.THE  LAND  OF  THE  NIHILIST- 

RUSSIA 


W.E.CURTIS 


GIFT  OF 
Mrs.   May  L.   Cheney 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  NIHILIST. 


RUSSIA 


ITS   PEOPLE,   ITS   PALACES,    ITS    POLITICS 


A  NARRATIVE  OF  TRAVEL  IN  THE  CZAR'S 
DOMINIONS 


WILLIAM  ELEROY  CURTIS 

AUTHOR  OF  "THE  CAPITALS  OF  SPANISH  AMERICA,"  "A  SUMMER  SCAMPER,"   "THE 

CHILDREN    OF  THE  SUN,"    "  TIBBALSEs'    FOLKS,"    ETC.,    ETC. 


CHICAGO,  NEW  YORK  &  SAN  FRANCISCO 
BELFORD,     CLARKE     &     CO. 

PUBLISHERS 


PRESSRVAUON  C-^    /  / 

COPY  ADDED 
"•< '-.••    TO  BE 


GIF?  OF 


L. 


COPYRIGHT  BY 
WILLIAM  ELEROY  CURTIS 


DEDICATION. 


In  the  summer  of  1887,  as  correspondent  of  the  Chicago 
Daily  News ',  the  author  spent  some  time,  in  St.  Petersburg, 
Moscow,  and  other  portions  of  the  Czar's  dominions,  and 
found  many  amazing  things  which  he  had  never  heard  of 
before,  although  he  had  read  every  book  he  could  find  on 
the  Russian  Empire.  Many  years  ago  Murray  published  a 
"  Guide  to  Russia/'  but  it  is  now  out  of  print,  and  can  be 
obtained  only  at  the  second-hand  book-stalls  of  London. 
Baedeker,  the  ubiquitous  friend  of  European  travellers,  has 
never  issued  one.  The  author,  feeling  the  need  of  some 
pocket  aid  to  tourists,  was  tempted  to  compile  his  newspaper 
letters  in  the  form  herewith  presented,  and  does  so  with  the 
knowledge,  that,  although  incomplete,  they  will  supply  the 
want  he  felt,  and  furnish  those  who  have  the  privilege  of 
visiting  the  most  interesting  country  of  Europe  much  infor- 
mation they  can  only  with  the  greatest  difficulty  there  obtain. 
Those  who  cannot  enjoy  this  privilege  may  secure  from  these 
pages,  he  is  sure,  a  pretty  good  idea  of  the  monstrous, 
isolated  empire  of  which  we  know  so  little. 

With  this  explanation  he  affectionately  dedicates  the  little 

volume 

TO  HIS  WIFE; 

THE  COMPANION  OF  MANY  A  LONG  JOURNEY, 
IN  BOTH  HEMISPHERES,  BY  LAND  AND  SEA. 


M49153 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  CZAR'S  WINDOW. — How  it  may  be  Entered. — A  Journey  with 
a  Prince. — How  Kings  Greet  Each  Other. — A  Glimpse  of  the 
Czar  and  the  Imperial  Family. — The  Russian  Railways. — The 
Sleeping  Car  and  its  Porter. — Where  Amber  Comes  From i 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  RUSSIAN  CUSTOM-HOUSES. — What  a  Passport  is  Good  For. — 
The  Love  Russians  Have  for  Americans. — A  Russian  Customs 
Inspection. — The  Desolation  in  the  Northern  Country '. . ..  15 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE  CITY  OF  ST.  PETERSBURG. — First  Impressions  of  its  Magnifi- 
cence.— Romance  of  its  Construction. — The  Great  Winter  Pal- 
ace.— The  Finest  Royal  Residence  in  the  World. — The  Czar's 
Dinner  Parties. — Rooms  of  Tragic  Interest 22 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  DANGEROUS  DVORNIK. — The  Effective  Spy-System  of  Peters- 
burg.— Trades'  Unions  Called  "  Artels." — Public  Ostentation 
and  Private  Economy  Among  the  Upper  Classes. — Dishonesty 
Among  the  Merchants 36 

CHAPTER  V. 

THE  DROSKY  AND  ITS  DRIVER. — Petersburg  a  City  of  Magnificent 
Distances. — Cheap  Transportation. — Habits  of  the  Ishvosh- 
nik. — Travelling  in  the  Country. — Endurance  of  the  Natives. — 
The  Genuine  Russian  Bath. — Village  Doctors 44 

i 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  TREASURES  OF  THE  HERMITAGE. — Something  About  Catherine 
the  Great,  the  Cleopatra  of  the  North.— Her  Rules  of  Eti- 
quette.— Precious  Relics  of  Peter  the  Great. — The  Largest 
Collections  of  Coins  and  Gems  in  the  world. — The  Alexander 
Column  and  other  Monuments  of  Petersburg 54 


CHAPTER  VII. 

MEMENTOS  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT. — How  He  Gained  the  Throne  to 
which  he  had  no  Legal  Claim,  and  How  He  Governed. — Some 
of  the  Great  Czar's  Oddities.— The  Cottage  Which  He  Built 
with  His  Own  Hands  and  in  which  he  Lived  for  Nine  Years. 
—Three  Historic  Boats.— The  Tombs  of  the  Czars 64 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

ALEXANDER  IIv—  The  Character  of  the  Late  Czar.— How  the 
Assassins'  Bomb  Prevented  a  Constitutional  Government  in 
Russia. — The  Attempts  to  Assassinate  Alexander. — Instances 
of  His  Generosity. — The  Morganatic  Marriage  with  the  Prin- 
cess Dolgorouki. — Examples  of  Police  Tyranny 74 

CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  IMPERIAL  STABLES. — They  Illustrate  the  Wicked  Extrava- 
gance of  the  Sovereigns. — Carriages  and  Harnesses  that  are 
Mounted  with  Gold  and  Jewels.— The  Sledge  that  Peter 
Made. — The  Czar's  Eight  Hundred  Horses. — Sanitary  Con- 
dition of  the  City. — The  River  Neva,  and  the  Ceremonies  that 
Annually  Occur 90 

CHAPTER  X. 

SOME  OF  THE  PALACES  AND  JEWELS. — The  Homes  of  the  Grand 
Dukes  and  the  Czars  of  the  Past. — Peculiarities  of  the  Em- 
peror Paul  and  His  Tragic  End. — Potemkin's  Romance. — The 
Imperial  Crown  of  Russia,  and  the  Coronet  of  the  Empress. — 
Story  of  the  Famous  Orloff  Diamond ^ 103 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  FAMOUS  VOSPITATELNEY  DOM. — Where  Fatherless  Babies  are 
Cared  For.— Twenty-Four  Thousand  Foundlings.— The  Thea- 
tres and  Other  Places  of  Amusement. — Merchants'  Exchange. — 
Russian  Methods  of  Doing  Business. — Peculiar  System  in  the 
Banking  Houses 114 


CHAPTER   XII. 

EDUCATION  IN  RUSSIA. — The  Small  Proportion  of  the  Population 
that  can  Read  or  Write. — The  Policy  of  the  Government  Keeps 
the  People  in  Ignorance. — Superior  Universities  but  Few  Com- 
mon Schools. — Every  Facility  for  Amusement  of  the  People 
but  not  for  their  Education. — Schools  of  Fine  Arts,  Science,  and 
Industry. — The  Imperial  Library  and  Museums %  125 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  PRESS  AND  THE  CENSOR. — How  the  Newspapers  of  Russia  are 
Throttled.— No  News  Allowed  to  be  Published.— The  Opera- 
tions of  the  Censor. — Katkoff  the  Only  Man  who  Dared  Defy 
Him. — The  Mails  Violated. — Private  Letters  Opened  by  the 
Police 142 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

\ 

ODD  FEATURES  OF  RUSSIAN  LIFE. — Bewildering  Signboards. — The 
Alphabet  with  Thirty-Six  Letters. — Curious  Method  of  Selling 
Cigars. — The  Hotels  and  Markets  of  Petersburg. — Shopping  in 
the  Gostinnoi-Dvor.— Silver  and  Gold  Work. — Jewels  from 
Siberia. — The  "  Thieves'  Market." 154 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  CATHEDRALS  OF  PETERSBURG. — The  Church  of  St.  Isaac's — 
Said  to  be  the  Finest  Specimen  of  Greek  Architecture  in  the 
World. — The  Cathedral  of  Kazan,  Where  the  Czar  goes  to  Wor- 
ship.— Devotion  of  the  Peasants 165 


IV  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE  RUSSIAN-GREEK  CHURCH.— Riches  of  Alexander  Nevski  Mon- 
astery.— Difference  Between  the  Greek  and  Roman  Catholic 
Creeds.— The  Worship  of  Icons.— The  Black  and  White 
Clergy. — Hardships  of  the  Russian  Priests. — How  they  are  Mar- 
ried.— The  Morals  of  the  People 177 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  ARMY  OF  RUSSIA. — Comprising  nearly  Two  Millions  of 
Men. — How  it  is  Organized. — The  Military  Laws  of  the  Em- 
pire.— Grand  Reviews  of  Troops  by  the  Emperor. — The  Cos- 
sacks and  their  Peculiar  Customs. — The  Naval  Forces 195 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  OF  THE  CZAR. — The  Absurd  Stories  About  His 
Personal  Habits. — How  the  Slanders  Originate. — An  Anecdote 
of  the  Emperor's  Courage. — Safeguards  Thrown  About  his  Per- 
son.— His  Carriage,  Yacht,  and  Railway-Car. — The  Body-Guard 
of  Gentlemen. — Police  Precaution 204 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE  CZAR  AND  CZARINA  AT  HOME. — A  Glimpse  at  their  Domestic 
Life. — The  Little  Palace  in  which  they  Spent  the  Happy  Days 
of  their  Lives. — The  Personality  of  the  Czar. — His  Fondness 
for  His  Wife  and  Children. — Peculiarities  of  His  Character.  219 


CHAPTER  XX. 

THE  COUNTRY  PALACES  AROUND  PETERSBURG. — Tsarskoe-Selo, 
where  the  Great  Catherine  Spent  Her  Leisure  with  her 
Lovers. — Some  Reminiscences  of  the  Place. — Richly  Decorated 
Rooms.— A  Gorgeous  Card-Table.— The  Palace  at  Peteroff, 
and  the  Birthday-Party  of  the  Czarina. — Some  Wonderful 
Fountains  and  Illuminations 231 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE  TERRIBLE  POLICE. — Lieutenant-General  Gresser,  the  Head  of 
the  Police. — Examples  of  His  Tyranny. — The  Income  of  the 
Czar. — How  Political  Offenders  are  Treated.-1— The  Three  Sys- 
tems of  Police,  and  the  Hated  "  Third  Section."— Cruelties  of 
the  Inquisition  Re-enacted  in  Russia  to-day 249 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

THE  NIHILIST  AT  HOME. — The  Term  a  Misnomer. — It  does  not 
mean  what  it  did. — Several  Classes  of  Nihilists  in  Russia. — 
The  Constitutionalists,  the  Liberals,  the  Revolutionists,  and  the 
Terrorists.— Sketches  of  Some  Nihilist  Leaders. — How  Nihil- 
ism will  End. — The  Fate  of  the  Empire 264 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE  HOLY  CITY  OF  'Moscow. — The  Legal  Capital  as  well  as  the 
Commercial  Metropolis  of  Russia. — The  Most  Interesting 
Place  in  Europe. — Buildings  and  Customs  Inherited  from  the 
Asiatic  Founders. — Over  Five  Hundred  Gilded  Domes. — The 
Great  Hotel  and  Strangers'  Market. — An  Immense  Foundlings' 
Home. — The  Results  of  Napoleon's  Invasion 284 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

WITHIN  THE  MIGHTY  KREMLIN. — The  Citadel  that  Shelters  the 
Throne  of  Russia. — Its  Grandeur  and  Historical  Associa- 
tions.— A  Palace  that  is  the  Finest  in  the  World. — Hundreds 
of  Millions  of  Dollars'  Worth  of  Gold  and  Silver  and  Gems. — 
The  Palace  of  the  Holy  Synod  with  its  Jewels,  and  the  Treas- 
ury with  its  Captured  Crowns  and  Thrones. — Churches  in  the 
Kremlin 301 


RUSSIA. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  CZAR'S  WINDOW. 

How  it  may  be  Entered. — A  Journey  with  a  Prince. — How  Kings  Greet 
Each  Other. — A  Glimpse  of  the  Czar  and  the  Imperial  Family. — 
The  Russian  Railways. — The  Sleeping  Car  and  its  Porter. — Where 
Amber  Comes  From. 

.  TRAVEL  has  its  fashions  like  everything  else,  and  the  last 
season  or  two  everybody  has  been  going  to  the  North  Cape 
and  the  Land  of  the  Midnight  Sun,  leaving  Switzerland  and 
the  German  baths  to  those  who  have  not  been  to  Europe 
before  or  are  under  the  doctor's  orders.  Last  year  a  few  of 
the  North  Capers  spread  over  into  Russia — they  were  so 
near  that  they  couldn't  help  it ;  but  until  then  the  visitors 
to  the  Czar's  dominions  had  been  so  few  that  Herr  Bae- 
deker, the  faithful  friend  of  the  travelling  public,  had  not 
considered  it  worth  his  while  to  issue  a  Russian  guide-book, 
although  he  has  covered  nearly  every  other  country  on  the 
globe.  Those  who  intend  to  make  the  journey  a  part  of  a 
general  European  tour,  should  save  Russia  till  the  last,  and 
go  straight  home  from  there.  After  one  has  seen  the  gilded 
palaces  of  the  Czars  and  the  treasures  of  the  Kremlin,  every 
other  place  but  Paris  will  seem  very  tame  to  him,  and  he 
will  lose  much  of  his  pleasure. 

When  Peter  the  Great  was  reproached  for  the  folly  of 
locating  the  capital  of  Russia  in  a  swamp  where  nature 
never  intended  a  city  should  stand,  he  remarked  :  "  I  want 
a  window  to  look  out  upon  Europe/'  for  Russia  had  no 
seaport  then.  So  the  group  of  the  most  splendid  palaces 

I 


2  RUSSIA  : 

in  the  world  has  s!rxe  been  known  as  "the  Czar's  Window." 
The  most  comfortable  and  attractive  route  to  Petersburg 
— the  nadves  always  drop  the  prefix — is  by  steamer  across 
the  North  and  Baltic  seas,  by  way  of  Copenhagen  and 
Cronstadt,  the  port  of  the  Russian  capital.  The  ships  are 
fine  and  safe,  and  the  voyage  only  about  double  the  time  it 
takes  to  go  by  rail  from  Berlin,  while  the  expense  is  much 
less.  The  railroad  journey  from  the  German  capital  is  not 
uncomfortable  or  uninteresting,  however,  and  for  good  and 
sufficient  reasons,  I  went  that  way.  The  other  route  is  from 
Vienna,  by  way  of  Moscow,  which  should  be  avoided,  as  it 
requires  fifty-two  hours  at  the  minimum,  without  sleeping- 
cars,  and  after  the  Austrian  boundary  is  passed,  no  comforts 
or  conveniences  whateveiv 

From  Berlin  to  Petersburg  one  can  go  by  the  fast  express 
about  as  quickly  and  as  comfortably  as  from  New  York  to 
St.  Louis  on  the  ordinary  trains ;  that  is,  in  thirty-six  hours. 
The  fare  is  thirty  dollars,  and  the  sleeping-berth  five  dollars 
more.  You  leave  Berlin  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning 
and  reach  Petersburg  at  forty  minutes  past  seven  the  second 
night.  The  cars  are  similar  to  those  of  the  Boudoir  pattern 
used  on  some  roads  of  the  United  States,  and  the  coupe-lits 
of  France,  with  compartments  or  state-rooms  for  two  and  for 
four  people,  the  smaller  ones  having  an  upper  and  a  lower 
berth,  and  the  larger  two  uppers  and  two  lowers,  like  the 
Pullman  drawing-rooms. 

We  were  early  at  the  Berlin  station,  where  the  train  is 
made  up,  and  our  courier  put  us  into  the  best-looking  car  we 
had  seen  in  Europe, — selecting  the  middle  of  the  three  com- 
partments as  the  most  comfortable  for  the  long  journey.  It 
was  beautifully  upholstered,  and  the  cushions  were  as  yield- 
ing as  a  Turkish  chair.  We  had  our  bags  and  parcels 
stowed  away  in  the  racks,  when  the  guard  came  rushing  in, 
and  in  the  most  excited  manner  told  us  we  must  vacate  at 
once.  We  declined  to  do  so.  On  all  the  European  roads 
the  first-comers  have  the  pick  of  places,  and  no  reserved 


THE  CZAR'S  WINDOW.  3 

chairs  are  sold.  He  jabbered  and  gesticulated,  but  we  were 
immovable. 

Finally  he  told  us  the  car  we  were  in  was  especially 
designed  for  the  use  of  the  imperial  family  of  Germany  when 
they  travelled  by  that  road,  and  was  placed  on  the  train  for 
the  accommodation  of  the  Crown  Prince  of  Greece,  his  aide- 
de-camp  and  servants.  We  explained  to  the  agitated  guard 
that  we  had  no  objection  to  riding  with  the  Crown  Prince, 
that  we  were  sovereigns  ourselves  when  at  home,  and  that 
the  young  fellow  couldn't  be  so  selfish  as  to  want  the  whole 
car  to  himself.  A  golden  coin  followed  the  remark,  in  the 
nature  of  an  exclamation  point,  and  had  the  usual  effect. 
There  does  not  seem  to  be  any  one  in  Europe  beyond  the 
influence  of  such  persuasives. 

The  official  indignation  of  the  guard  having  subsided,  he 
locked  us  in  our  compartment,  and  went  out  to  explain  mat- 
ters to  the  Prince,  who  arrived  soon  after.  What  excuse  he 
gave  for  permitting  a  couple  of  American  tourists  to  occupy 
the  best  room  in  the  car,  I  cannot  imagine.  The  Prince 
made  no  objection,  but  his  aide  spluttered  a  good  deal  and 
gave  our  door  an  angry  jerk  as  he  passed  it.  He  cooled 
down  after  a  while,  however,  and  proved  to  be  a  very  agree- 
able fellow,  who  could  talk  English  without  the  slightest 
trace  of  alien  accent,  and  had  a  strong  desire  to  visit  the 
United  States.  He  told  me  he  had  the  honor  of  meeting 
General  Grant  while  the  latter  was  in  Europe,  and  of  serving 
as  his  escort  in  Greece.  He  knew  many  American  naval 
officers  whom  he  had  met  in  the  Mediterranean,  and  was 
anxious  to  know  some  of  our  military  heroes,  who  are  more 
in  his  line,  for  he  is  a  colonel  in  the  Grecian  army,  and  was 
under  detail  as  the  aide  and  tutor  of  the  Prince. 

The  Prince  is  a  boy  of  twenty,  with  a  fresh,  rosy  com- 
plexion, large,  frank  blue  eyes,  splendid  physique,  and  a 
modest  manner.  He  wore  a  suit  of  gray  tweed,  and  his  fair 
hair  and  fresh-looking  face  showed  his  Danish  blood,  for 
there  isn't  a  trace  of  the  Grecian  in  the  whole  court  of  that 
little  kingdom.  The  boy's  father  is  George,  the  second  son 


4  RUSSIA: 

of  King  Christian  of  Denmark ;  and  he  was  chosen  as  the 
ruler  of  Greece  by  the  allied  powers  after  the  last  revolution 
there.  One  of  his  aunts  is  the  Princess  of  Wales,  another 
is  the  Empress  of  Russia,  while  his  mother,  Queen  Olga  of 
Greece,  is  the  cousin  of  the  Czar. 

He  was  on  his  way  from  London  (where  he  had  been  to 
assist  Queen  Victoria  to  celebrate  her  Jubilee)  to  Peters- 
burg, to  join  his  royal  parents,  who  were  visiting  the  Czar, 
and  intended,  as  he  since  has  done,  to  return  to  Copenhagen 
for  a  reunion  of  the  greatest  family  in  Europe,  who  make  it 
a  rule  to  come  together  around  the  paternal  hearth-stone 
every  two  years, — the  Czar  of  all  the  Russias  and  the 
Czarina,  with  their  children,  the  future  King  and  Queen  of 
England,  with  their  seven  boys  and  girls,  and  the  family  of 
the  King  of  Greece, — to  receive  the  blessing  of  the  noblest 
of  all  living  monarchs,  King  Christian,  and  to  celebrate  the 
seventieth  birthday  of  the  Mother  Queen. 

The  young  Prince  read  French  novels  most  of  the  journey, 
I'm  sorry  to  say,  but  he  was  only  following  the  fashion,  for 
one  cannot  enter  a  railway  carriage,  nor  the  drawing-room 
of  a  home  where  French  is  spoken,  nor  the  salon  of  a  hotel, 
nor  a  steamer  on  any  of  the  waters  of  Europe,  without  being 
amazed  at  the  immense  circulation  of  the  nasty  books  the 
writers  of  the  Zola  school  are  turning  out  of  the  presses  of 
Paris.  In  Russia,  where  the  importation  of  books  is  practi- 
cally prohibited,  one  can  find  nothing  else  at  the  news-stands 
and  book-shops. 

When  he  was  disposed  to  talk,  the  Prince  proved  to  be  a 
sensible,  unassuming  boy,  with  as  great  a  curiosity  to  know 
an  American  lady  and  gentleman,  as  they  felt  to  know  a 
prince.  His  English  accent  was  the  purest  Picadilly,  and 
would  have  made  the  Anglomaniacs  of  our  country  green 
with  envy.  He  talked  it  as  if  he  had  never  spoken  any* 
thing  else,  and  queerly  enough,  almost  his  first  stroke  after 
the  ice  was  broken  was  toward  our  Indian  affairs.  He 
had  seen  Buffalo  Bill's  "Wild  West"  in  London;  and  the 
noble  red  man  of  the  praries  had  as  great  a  fascination  for 


THE  CZAR'S  WINDOW. 


5 


him  as  for  other  boys  who  have  no  prospect  of  wearing 
crowns.  He  was  pretty  well  informed  in  United  States  his- 
tory, and  had  more  knowledge  of  our  political  institutions 
and  conditions  than  most  boys  of  his  age  at  home,  although 
he  did  insist  upon  calling  our  Congress  a  Parliament,  and 
asked  who  was  prime  minister  in  the  United  States  now. 
Altogether  he  was  a  most  agreeable  travelling  companion, 
said  gallant  words  to  the  lady  of  the  party,  complimented  my 
cigars,  rushed  out  with  the  rest  of  us  at  the  eating  stations, 
bolted  all  he  could,  as  we  did,  in  twenty  minutes,  and  usually 
brought  away  something  from  the  table  in  his  hands.  No 
one  would  have  suspected  his  royal  blood,  for  he  looked  and 
acted  more  like  an  ordinary  college  student  on  a  vacation, 
until  we  approached  Petersburg,  when  he  put  on  his  uniform 
as  a  colonel  in  the  army  of  Greece,  in  which  to  be  welcomed 
by  his  imperial  relatives. 

It's  a  great  treat  to  see  the  Czar  at  any  time  and  under 
any  circumstances.  He  is  the  most  exclusive  monarch  in 
Europe,  for  reasons  that  are  well  known,  and  seldom  appears 
in  public ;  so  that  his  features  and  person  are  familiar  to 
most  of  his  subjects  only  by  the  photographs  that  are  sold 
in  the  shops.  The  arrival  of  our  royal  companion,  therefore, 
gave  us  an  opportunity  few  have  ever  enjoyed  of  seeing  the 
autocrat  in  his  every-day  clothes,  so  near  that  we  could 
almost  touch  him,  and  of  witnessing  the  manner  in  which 
kings  and  queens  and  princes  greet  each  other  when  they  go 
visiting. 

The  railway  station  for  the  Czar's  summer  palace  is  called 
Gatschina,  and  it  is  arranged  for  his  especial  accommodation 
and  protection,  as  he  frequently  takes  the  train  to  town.  It 
is  a  handsome  building,  and  the  cars  run  up  to  a  stone  plat- 
form under  an  arched  roof  of  glass.  The  ordinary  trains  do 
not  stop  there,  but  ours  had  orders  to  land  the  Prince,  which 
was  accomplished  with  considerable  ceremony. 

The  platform  was  covered  with  a  scarlet  velvet  carpet; 
and  a  set  of  steps,  with  handsomely  carved  balustrades,  car- 
peted to  match  the  floor,  was  provided.  As  the  train  rolled 


6  RUSSIA : 

into  the  station  the  young  Prince  seemed  considerably  agi- 
tated, and  poked  his  head  out  of  the  window  as  any  other 
boy  would  have  done.  There  was  a  waving  of  parasols  and 
handkerchiefs  and  hats  from  a  group  on  the  platform,  while 
a  tall,  slender  man,  in  a  uniform  of  white  duck,  trimmed 
with  red  and  covered  with  decorations,  seized  the  Prince's 
hand  through  the  window,  and  pressing  it  to  his  lips,  ran 
along  with  the  car  for  a  rod  or  so,  exclaiming  in  most  excel- 
lent English, 

"  My  dear  boy !  Oh  !  my  dear  boy ! " 

That  was  the  greeting  of  a  king  to  his  son  whom  he  had 
not  seen  for  four  months,  while  a  shout  of  welcome  went  up 
from  the  group  on  the  platform, — and  it  was  an  unusual 
assemblage  in  an  unusual  place.  There  was  the  Czar  of 
Russia,  a  large,  robust-looking  man,  with  thick,  reddish 
beard,  parted  with  painful  precision,  wearing  a  suit  of  white 
linen,  in  which  he  looked  handsome  and  comfortable. 
There  was  a  wide  gold  band  around  each  sleeve,  and 
another  around  the  collar,  and  two  or  three  decorations  upon 
his  breast,  which  I  could  not  recognize  at  the  glance,  although 
they  were  probably  the  orders  of  St.  George  and  the  Iron 
Cross,  which  I'm  told  he  always  wears.  In  his  hand  he 
held  the  peculiar  scarlet  cap  of  the  Cossack  uniform,  and 
a  pair  of  white  undressed-kid  driving-gloves. 

By  his  side  was  the  Czarina,  a  petite  and  pretty  woman, 
not  so  tall  as  her  elder  sister,  the  Princess  of  Wales,  but 
bearing  an  unmistakable  resemblance.  She  wore  a  gown 
of  some  light  pink  stuff,  with  a  pink  bonnet  and  white  para- 
sol. With  her  was  the  Queen  of  Greece,  the  Czar's  cousin, 
a  plump  and  pretty  woman  of  forty  or  thereabouts,  in  an 
ecru  gown  of  flannel  or  some  similar  material,  with  a  Roman 
sash,  and  a  large  lace  parasol. 

Beside  her  stood  a  magnificent-looking  fellow,  with  a 
blonde  beard  and  moustaches  that  curled  up  in  a  coquettish 
w.ay,  wearing  the  uniform  of  an  admiral,  the  handsomest  and, 
it  is  said,  most  dissolute  member  of  the  imperial  family,  and 


THE  CZAR'S  WINDOW.  7 

yet  the  most  popular  of  all — our  old  friend  and  visitor,  the 
Grand  Duke  Alexis. 

And,  even  taller  than  he,  fully  six  feet  four,  and  very  slim, 
was  his  brother,  the  Grand  Duke  Sergius,  in  white  duck, 
with  military  decorations,  with  his  wife,  a  handsome  German 
princess.  There  were  several  in  the  party  we  could  not 
identify — officers  and  ladies,  relatives  of  the  Queen  of 
Greece,  making  a  dozen  or  more,  who  had  come  down  to 
give  the  youngster  a  welcome. 

The  boy  kissed  his  father  affectionately  as  he  stepped 
down  the  scarlet  stairs,  first  on  one  cheek  and  then  on  the 
other,  and  tears  of  joy  stood  in  the  eyes  of  the  King  of 
Greece.  Then  he  knelt  reverently  before  his  mother  and 
kissed  her  hand ;  rose  and  embraced  her  with  a  hearty  hug, 
while  she  kissed  him  again  and  again.  Next  he  knelt  before 
the  Czarina  and  repeated  the  ceremony — more  hugging  .and 
kissing.  The  Czar,  who  had  stood  aloof,  came  forward 
after  the  parental  greetings  were  finished,  embraced  the  boy, 
and  received  his  kisses  on  both  cheeks.  Then  the  aide-de- 
camp, who  had  been  waiting  in  the  background,  knelt  and 
kissed  the  hands  of  the  King  and  Queen  of  Greece,  and 
repeated  the  ceremony  with  the  Czar  and  Czarina,  as  the 
young  Prince  was  receiving  the  welcome  of  the  remainder 
of  his  imperial  relatives.  Most  of  the  conversation  was  in 
good,  plain  English,  and  we  did  not  hear  a  word  of  Russian 
spoken.  It  is  the  habit  of  the  Czar's  family  to  use  the  Eng- 
lish language  in  familiar  conversation,  and  even  more  French 
than  Russian  on  occasions  of  ceremony.  The  party  chatted 
cheerfully  as  they  passed  out  of  the  station,  and  filled  several 
basket-phaetons,  drawn  by  splendid  black  horses.  The  Czar 
took  the  reins  himself  in  one,  with  the  King  of  Greece  beside 
him,  while  the  boy  Prince  and  his  mother  sat  on  the  back 
seat,  holding  each  other's  hands  in  the  most  natural  and 
affectionate  way.  The  Czarina  rode  with  the  Grand  Duke 
Alexis ;  Sergius  and  his  wife  took  the  next  carriage,  which 
he  drove ;  while  the  rest  of  the  retinue  filled  the  remaining 


8  RUSSIA: 

carriages,  and  followed  rapidly  toward  the  palace,  two  miles 
away. 

The  Russian  railway  cars  are  made  of  iron  throughout — 
the  walls,  the  roof,  the  floor,  and  the  partitions.  Even  the 
window-sashes  are  made  of  metal.  There  is  no  wood  to  be 
seen,  except  the  finishings,,  which  strikes  one  as  a  good  idea, 
particularly  since  the  holocausts  that  have  recently  occurred 
on  our  railways.  The  plates  are  not  more  than  half  an  inch 
thick;  so  that  the  cars  are  light  as  well  as  substantial,  and 
there  is  no  rattling  sound.  When  the  plates  get  loose  I  sup- 
pose they  are  taken  to  the  shops  and  tightened.  The  exte- 
rior is  painted  an  indigo  blue,  and  handsomely  varnished,  but 
there  is  no  superfluous  decoration.  The  interiors  are  luxu- 
rious, the  walls  being  covered  with  white  silk  brocade ;  and 
the  long  sofas,  which  extend  across  the  compartments  at 
right  angles  with  the  car,  are  upholstered  in  the  richest  Russia 
leather.  The  sofas  are  as  comfortable  as  Turkish  easy- 
chairs,  and  when  one  sinks  down  into  them  he  thinks  of  the 
hot  and  hard  seats  he  is  accustomed  to  at  home.  The  sec- 
ond-class cars  are  finished  in  plush,  in  a  similar  way,  only 
the  sofas  have  partitions,  so  that  one  cannot  lie  down,  and 
there  is  ordinary  paper  on  the  walls.  .  The  third-class  car- 
riages are  perfectly  plain,  with  seats  running  lengthwise,  and 
uncushioned,  like  those  of  the  cars  of  the  elevated  railways 
in  New  York. 

But  the  most  extraordinary  feature  of  the  equipment  is  the 
sleeping-car  porter.  The  conductors  and  guards  are  dressed 
in  a  military  uniform  similar  to  that  worn  by  railway  officials 
in  other  parts  of  Europe,  but  the  porter  is  a  novel  and  grati- 
fying spectacle,  and  furnishes  the  first  glimpse  the  traveller 
has  of  the  national  costume  of  the  Muscovites.  That  which 
impresses  one  first  and  most  is  his  boots.  They  are  of  the 
finest  leather,  reach  to  his  knees,  have  soles  half  an  inch 
thick,  and  around  the  ankles  the  uppers  are  creased  in  the 
most  exact  and  artistic  manner.  I  found  out  afterward  in 
St.  Petersburg  how  it  is  done — upon  a  mould,  when  the 
leather  is  damp,  with  a  large  horn  knife  like  a  paper-cutter, 


THE  CZAR'S  WINDOW.  g 

and  with  as  much  care  and  mathematical  accuracy  as  the 
modiste  uses  when  she  puts  knife-pleating  on  her  dress,  or 
the  sculptor  when  he  chisels  the  capital  of  a  column.  These 
boots  are  worn  all  over  Russia  by  the  lower  classes,  and  are 
the  national  vanity.  The  Mexican  caballero  puts  all  the 
money  he  can  raise  into  his  sombrero ;  the  Argentine  gaucho 
invests  his  fortune  in  his  saddle ;  but  in  Russia  the  personal 
adornment  of  the  peasant,  or  mujik,  as  he  is  called,  is  his 
boots.  He  may  have  no  shirt,  or  no  coat,  or  they  both  may 
be  ragged  if  he  has  them,  and  his  hat  may  be  an  heirloom ; 
but  his  boots  are  always  fine,  newly  oiled,  and  kept  with  the 
most  scrupulous  care. 

Our  porter  was  the  typical  Muscovite,  stalwart,  erect,  full- 
bearded,  and  blue-eyed.  Like  all  his  class  he  wore  a  scarlet 
shirt  outside  of  his  pantaloons,  which  were  black,  wide  as 
the  breeches  of  a  zouave,  and  tucked  into  the  tops  of  his 
boots.  We  only  got  a  glimpse  of  his  pantaloons  occasion- 
ally, for  over  his  red  shirt  he  wore  a  black,  single-breasted 
coat  that  reached  to  his  boot-tops,  the  skirts  of  which  were 
full,  and  gathered  at  the  belt  like  a  woman's  petticoat. 
Around  his  waist  he  wore  a  wide  leather  belt,  from  which 
hung  a  long  knife  in  a  scabbard.  On  his  head  was  a  round 
cap  of  astrachan,  ornamented  with  a  cockade  made  of  the 
eyes  of  two  peacock  feathers.  He  was  dignified  and  sol- 
dierly, and  looked  more  like  a  military  man  than  a  sleeping- 
car  porter.  He  neither  spoke  nor  understood  a  word  of 
English,  but  was  extremely  polite  and  attentive  ;  was  intelli- 
gent enough  to  comprehend  our  wants  without  being  told  of 
them  ;  and  communicated  with  us  by  signs  that  showed  him 
to  be  a  master  of  the  art  of  pantomime.  When  the  train  was 
approaching  a  station  he  would  invariably  come  to  our  com- 
partment and  hold  up  his  fingers  to  indicate  how  many  min- 
utes it  would  stop,  and  always  notified  us  of  the  eating- 
places  by  gestures  that  were  as  intelligible  as  they  were 
amusing. 

But  there  was  a  renewed  and  intenser  interest  when  he 
came  to  make  up  the  beds  at  night.  We  had  been  studying 


10 


RUSSIA : 


the  problem  with  curiosity,  for  we  could  not  see  how  our  two 
long,  unresisting  sofas  were  to  be  transformed  into  four  beds  ; 
but  he  did  it  as  deftly  as  the  most  accomplished  colored  por- 
ter that  ever  ran  on  a  Pullman.  First,  he  poked  his  hand 
down  between  the  seat  and  the  upholstered  leather  that 
formed  a  back  reaching  far  above  our  heads,  then  gave  a 
quick  jerk,  which  caused  the  seat  to  turn  over  and  lie  bottom 
side  up.  This  disclosed  a  neat  mattress,  to  which  two 
blankets  and  pillows  were  bound  with  straps.  Then  he 
seized  the  back  of  the  sofa  in  the  same  manner,  and  turned 
it  from  a  vertical  to  a  horizontal  position,  deftly  drawing 
from  either  wall  a  bracket  to  support  it,  and  producing  sheets 
and  pillow-cases  of  snowy  linen  from  some  hidden  cabinet  to 
make  up  the  most  comfortable  bed  I  ever  found  in  a  sleeping- 
car. 

The  route  from  Berlin  to  Petersburg  offers  no  picturesque 
scenery,  and  few  attractions.  Just  before  the  Russian  bound- 
ary is  reached  the  train  stops  at  the  old  city  of  Konigsberg, 
the  ancient  capital  of  Prussia,  and  one  of  the  most  strongly 
fortified  towns  in  the  world,  which  is  old,  quaint,  and  full  of 
interesting  traditions ;  and  Marienburg,  another  aged  and 
legend-haunted  city,  with  a  gloomy  fortress  and  massive 
walls,  is  near  it.  This,  in  the  olden  times,  was  the  seat  of 
the  government  and  the  headquarters  of  the  famous  Teutonic 
Knights  of  the  middle  ages,  whose  castles  still  stand  inde- 
structible. 

Napoleon  crossed  near  here  with  an  army  of  five  hundred 
thousand  men  in  1812,  going  eastward.  Five  months  later 
he  crossed  again,  alone,  a  fugitive  from  the  disaster  of 
Moscow,  having  deserted  his  army  at  Smorgoni.  At  the 
town  of  Kowno,  across  the  frontier,  is  a  significant  monu- 
ment, with  this  inscription  : — 

"In  1812  this  place  was  invaded  by  Napoleon  with  an 
army  of  seven  hundred  thousand  men." 

"In  1813  the  same  army  passed  this  place  numbering 
seventy  thousand." 

A  great  deal  of  history  is  wrapped  up  in  those  lines. 


THE  CZAR'S  WINDOW.  n 

About  1 60  miles  westward,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Vistula, 
is  the  flourishing  German  port  of  Dantzic,  the  market 
for  the  precious  fossilized  gum  called  amber.  Most  of  the 
stock  in  the  world  has  come  from  this  place,  where  it  has  been 
dived  and  dredged  for  during  nearly  two  thousand  years,  so 
long  as  the  memory  of  man  and  tradition  runneth,  for  the 
stuff  was  known  in  Pompeii,  and  in  Rome  and  Athens  before 
the  time  of  Christ.  The  "  Marine  mines,"  as  they  are 
called,  are  at  Bristerat,  a  few  miles  from  Dantzic,  where  the 
entire  population  are  engaged  in  harvesting  this  deodand  of 
the  sea. 

The  gathering  of  amber  has  always  been  a  royal  monop- 
oly, first  held  by  the  Teutonic  Knights,  but  in  recent  cent- 
uries being  farmed  out  to  corporations  by  the  Prussian  gov- 
ernment. It  is  found  all  along  the  coast  of  Samland,  and  is 
obtained  by  divers  and  dredges,  but  is  often  discovered 
floating  in  the  surf  and  sea-weed  after  a  storm.  In  1862, 
after  one  of  the  most  prolonged  and  furious  gales  that  ever 
visited  the  Baltic,  more  than  four  thousand  pounds  of  the 
precious  stuff  was  washed  ashore,  the  value  of  which  at  the 
market  at  Dantzic  was  over  a  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

Small  pieces  of  crude  amber,  of  the  ordinary  quality, 
weighing  not  more  than  half  an  ounce,  sell  at  wholesale  for 
seventy-five  cents  to  a  dollar.  Larger  pieces  bring  much 
more,  according  to  quality  and  size.  A  chunk  that  will 
weigh  a  pound  is  worth  several  hundred  dollars.  The  milky 
amber  is  considered  the  best,  but  the  value  is  decreasing 
because  of  _  the  ability  to  imitate  the  genuine.  Not  one- 
tenth  of  the  amber  seen  in  the  market  is  the  real  stuff ;  and 
the  bogus  is  said  to  be  superior  for  nearly  all  the  purposes 
for  which  it  is  used.  The  contractors  have  appealed  again 
and  again  to  Bismarck  to  prohibit  the  manufacture  and  sale 
of  the  imitation,  but  he  smiles  at  them,  and  says  that  human 
ingenuity  must  not  be  suppressed  when  it  is  exercised  to 
cheapen  the  cost  of  the  necessaries  of  life  without  injury  to 
the  health  of  the  people ;  and  the  pipe  manufacturers 
applaud  Bismarck. 


12 


RUSSIA  : 


The  pure  amber  is  costly  stuff,  and  the  extravagance  and 
grandeur  of  the  Russian  rulers  is  illustrated  by  a  chamber 
in  the  old  palace  of  Catherine  the  Great,  at  Tsarskoe- 
Selo,  fifteen  miles  from  Petersburg,  which  is  lined,  walls 
and  ceiling,  with  the  finest  quality.  As  the  room  is  half 
as  large  as  the  great  East  Room  in  the  White  House  at 
Washington,  its  value  is  purely  a  matter  of  speculation. 
The  golden  gum  is  in  large  pieces,  larger  than  can  be  found 
elsewhere  in  the  world ;  in  fact,  nowhere  but  under  the 
waters  of  the  Baltic  is  so  great  an  accumulation  of  the  stuff, 
and  it  is  laid  like  mosaic,  so  artistically  that  the  divisions  can 
scarcely  be  detected.  When  the  room  is  lighted  the  effect  is 
superb.  There  is  nothing  to  compare  it  with.  This  amber 
was  a  gift  from  Frederick  the  Great  of  Prussia  to  Catherine 
II.,  the  most  extravagant  monarch  that  ever  reigned,  at  the 
time  he  was  trying  to  prevent  an  alliance  between  her  and 
her  sister  empress,  Maria  Theresa  of  Austria.  The  coat-of- 
arms  of  the  giver  is  carved  in  a  large  block  of  amber,  and 
set  in  the  center  of  the  widest  wall. 

The  Russian  railway  stations  are  not  so  large  or  so  fine 
as  one  sees  in  other  portions  of  Europe,  but  average  as  well 
as  the  ordinary  country  depot  in  the  United  States.  In  the 
larger  towns  and  cities  a  good  deal  of  money  is  spent  upon 
them,  and  a  corresponding  amount  of  display.  The  stations 
at  St.  Petersburg  are  palaces,  decorated  with  sculpture, 
stained  glass,  lofty  domes,  and  equal  in  cost  and  appearance 
the.  best  in  New  York,  Philadelphia,  or  Chicago.  The  rail- 
way employe's  are  under  a  semi-military  discipline,  and  the 
slightest  accident  results  in  the  severest  punishment  of  those 
who  are  responsible,  whether  they  are  guilty  or  not.  A  little 
of  the  wholesome  discipline  that  prevails  in  Russian  railway 
management  might  with  profit  be  introduced  into  the  United 
States,  and  would  remove  the  nervous  apprehension  that 
attends  travelling  on  the  average  road. 

The  tracks  of  all  the  roads  leading  from  the  county  pal- 
aces to  the  capital,  over  which  the  Czar  may  travel,  are 
patrolled  by  soldiers,  and  one  can  see  tents  all  along  the  line 


THE  CZAR'S  WINDOW.  13 

at  intervals  of  a  few  hundred  yards.  This  precaution  is  nec- 
essary because  of  the  many  attempts  to  wreck  trains  on 
which  members  of  the  imperial  family  have  been,  or  were 
supposed  to  be  passengers.  There  was  one  terrible  danger 
from  this  source,  which  will  never  be  forgotten,  as  well  as 
several  escapes  from  lesser  peril. 

In  1879,  while  the  late  Czar  was  visiting  the  Crimea,  a 
party  of  Nihilists  under  the  leadership  of  Leo  Hartmann, 
now  a  refugee  in  New  York,  rented  a  log  hut  in  the  outskirts 
of  the  city  of  Moscow,  and  from  its  cellar  dug  a  mine  under 
the  railway  track  a  hundred  feet  or  more  distant.  The  work 
was  conducted  with  the  greatest  skill  and  determination,  and 
the  mine  was  well  stored  with  dynamite. 
When  the  train  on  which  the  Czar  and 
his  family  were  supposed  to  be,  passed 
over,  the  mine  was  fired.  The  locomo- 
tive and  cars  were  blown  to  fragments, 
and  several  men  were  killed.  But  they 
happened  to  be  only  baggage  cars.  The * 
Czar  with  his  family  and  a  number  of 
members  of  his  court  were  in  a  train 
running  as  a  second  section,  and  were  LEO  HARTMANN. 
thus  saved  from  death.  Most  of  those  connected  with  the 
conspiracy  were  tried  and  sentenced  to  be  hanged.  The 
Czar  commuted  the  sentences  of  several  to  imprisonment  in 
the  mines  of  Siberia,  after  having  satisfied  himself  that  they 
were  the  mere  tools  of  the  conspirators.  Hartmann  and 
several  others  managed  to  escape  and  left  the  country. 

The  eating  stations  along  the  Russian  roads  are  well  kept, 
and  table  d'hote  breakfasts  and  dinners  are  served,  which 
are  usually  equal,  and  often  superior,  to  the  best  of  American 
railway  restaurants.  Instead  of  wine  and  beer  being  offered 
at  the  tables  and  the  bars,  as  in  other  portions  of  Europe, 
hot  tea  of  the  most  delicious  flavor  is  served  at  every  station, 
being  brought  out  in  large  glasses,  with  a  slice  of  lemon 
floating  on  the  top,  in  the  oriental  way.  Tea  is  the  national 
drink  of  Russia,  and  the  people — the  upper  and  middle 


14  RUSSIA: 

classes — drink  it  as  freely  and  as  frequently  as  the  mujik 
his  vodka.  The  tea  is  brought  overland  from  China,  and  has 
a  flavor  such  as  tea  which  has  been  subjected  to  an  ocean 
voyage  can  never  keep.  There  is  something  in  the  atmos- 
phere at  sea  that  robs  the  leaf  of  its  aroma,  and  one  who 
has  tasted  tea  that  has  not  crossed  the  ocean  will  never 
enjoy  that  which  has. 

In  each  station,  as  in  each  private  house,  is  a  samovar,  a 
great  brass  urn,  filled  with  hot  water,  with  a  fire  of  charcoal 
under  it.  As  the  train  arrives,  the  porcelain  pot  in  which 
the  tea  is  standing  is  filled  from  the  samovar,  shaken 


HOUSE  OF  THE  MOSCOW  PLOT. 

a  little  so  as  to  let  all  the  leaves  get  thoroughly  soaked,  and 
then  the  steaming  liquor  is  poured  into  glasses  upon  sugar 
and  lemon.  No  milk  or  cream  is  ever  used  in  Russian  tea, 
as  the  people  think  they  spoil  it,  nor  is  the  tea  ever  "  steeped," 
for  that,  they  say,  makes  it  bitter.  Tea  is  always  served 
as  hot  as  possible,  and  the  average  allowance  per  citizen 
is  ten  or  twelve  glasses  a  day.  The  Russian  merchant  has 
a  samovar  in  his  counting-room,  and  the  lawyer  and  the 
mechanic  go  out  to  their  cafe  for  tea  as  often  as  the  German 
for  beer  or  the  Frenchman  for  wine.  At  the  cafes,  at  all 
hours  of  the  day  and  night,  one  can  see  crowds  of  people  sip- 
ping tea.  It  is  served  at  booths  in  the  streets  of  the  cities, 
like  lemonade  on  the  streets  of  New  York,  and  instead  of 
asking  a  man  to  take  a  drink  of  whiskey  or  beer,  the  Russians 
offer  him  a  glass  of  this  more  innocent  beverage.  The 
glasses  are  large,  and  stand  in  little  frames  of  silver  or  other 
metal,  with  handles  for  protection  and  convenience. 


THE  RUSSIAN  CUSTOMS  HOUSES. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE   RUSSIAN    CUSTOMS    HOUSES. 

What  a  Passport  is  good  for. — The  Love  Russians  have  for  Americans. — 
A  Russian  Customs  Inspection. — The  Desolation  in  the  Northern 
Country. 

IT  requires  a  passport  to  get  into  the  Czar's  dominions, 
and  it  requires  a  passport  to  get  out.  Every  resident  of  the 
country,  foreigner  or  native,  must  have  his  passport,  ready 
to  be  produced  at  any  moment  it  may  be  called  for,  and  that 
is  frequently.  It  is  well  to  have  the  document  ready,  as  the 
police  officials  are  busy  men,  not  blessed  with  an  abundance 
of  patience,  and  often  mistake  the  meaning  of  delay.  I 
heard  of  one  man  who  mislaid  his  passport,  and  not  being 
able  to  produce  it  when  called  for,  was  sent  to  prison  in- 
stantly. His  wife  discovered  the  document  a  few  hours  after 
the  arrest  was  made,  and  went  to  police  headquarters  at  once. 
The  officials  were  so  busy  that  she  did  not  get  a  hearing 
for  a  week  or  ten  days,  and  they  considered  it  best  for  the 
husband  to  remain  in  jail  a  month  or  so  to  punish  him  for 
his  carelessness,  and  the  trouble  he  had  caused  them. 

There  is  no  power  on  earth  so  arbitrary,  so  omnipotent,  so 
omniscient,  and  so  remorseless  as  the  Russian  police.  I 
shall  have  more  to  say  about  them  in  other  chapters,  but 
stop  here  to  advise  every  traveller  bound  for  Russia,  of 
whatever  age,  sex,  or  nationality,  to  take  a  passport,  properly 
endorsed  by  the  Representative  of  the  Russian  Government 
at  New  York  or  Washington.  It  will  do  no  harm,  and  it 
may  be  useful,  to  have  the  endorsement  of  both,  for  the 
Russian  police  are  of  an  inquiring  frame  of  mind,  and  lack 
confidence  in  human  virtue.  With  a  passport  properly 
d,  a  strict  obedience  to  all  the  regulations,  which  are  plain 


1 6  RUSSIA: 

and  unmistakable,  a  discreet  tongue,  and  a  decent  behavior, 
one  can  be  as  safe  and  co'mfortable  as  in  any  country  on  the 
globe,  and  see  and  enjoy  much  that  cannot  be  seen  and  en- 
joyed elsewhere.  There  are  few  picturesque  landscapes  and 
no  mountains,  but  the  people  and  the  palaces,  the  churches 
and  the  native  customs,  will  revivify  the  most  blase  traveller, 
and  the  gayeties  of  both  the  summer  and  winter  seasons 
offer  a  treat  to  those  who  have  exhausted  Paris  and  other 
great  cities  of  the  world. 

There  need  be  no  annoyance  from  the  tyranny  constantly 
exercised  over  both  citizens  and  strangers.  There  need  be 
no  test  of  patience.  It  is  only  necessary  to  submit,  and  to 
do  it  as  cheerfully  and  politely  as  possible.  A  visitor  can 
see  nothing  without  a  passport  and  police  surveillance.  He 
may  not  look  at  a  picture,  or  a  curiosity  in  any  of  the 
museums,  without  having  gendarmes  peering  over  his 
shoulder.  If  he  is  an  artist  he  must  obtain  the  permission 
of  the  police  to  make  sketches,  and  to  go  anywhere  he  must 
secure  a  pass.  But  all  these  obstacles  are  easily  overcome ; 
and  all  the  objects  of  interest  can  be  thoroughly  enjoyed 
by  an  observance  of  the  requirements,  and  a  disposition  to 
acknowledge  the  sovereignty  of  the  police.  Submission  is 
all  that  is  required,  and  the  rigid  rules  have  been  made 
necessary  by  nihilism  and  dynamite. 

Each  citizen  must  have  his  permit  to  live  in  the  country. 
These  permits  are  issued  annually  upon  the  payment  of  a 
fee.  If  he  wants  to  leave  the  country,  or  go  from  one  town 
to  another,  he  must  notify  the  police,  for  that  branch  of  the 
government  must  know  where  each  inhabitant  of  the  vast 
empire  sleeps  every  night.  In  the  provinces  the  rigid  sur- 
veillance is  relaxed  ;  but  at  Petersburg,  Moscow,  and  other 
places  visited  by  tourists,  there  is  a  constant  contact  between 
the  sovereign  and  the  subject  that  is  disagreeable  to  both. 
The  police  grant  permission  to  go  and  to  come  readily. 
There  is  no  interference  with  travel  or  with  trade.  Sub- 
mission ;  submission  ;  that  is  all.  No  one  can  get  a  ticket 
at  a  railway-station  or  on  a  steamboat  without  showing  a 


THE  RUSSIAN  CUSTOMS  HOUSES.  ^ 

permit  to  leave.  No  hotel  will  entertain  a  guest  till  he 
shows  his  passport.  One  cannot  go  anywhere  or  do  any- 
thing without  the  consent  of  the  authorities,  but  it  is  easily 
obtained,  and  costs  only  forty  copecks  for  the  stamp  that 
appears  on  the  document — about  fifteen  cents. 

I  had  heard  many  tales  about  the  tyranny  of  the  Russian 
police,  told  principally  by  Englishmen.  I  heard  about  an 
American  who  attempted  to  do  in  Petersburg  as  he  did  in 
Cincinnati,  and  got  into  a  cell  from  which  the  American 
Minister  had  to  try  hard  and  long  before  he  could  extricate 
him.  I  had  heard  of  the  brutality  of  the  custom  officers  too, 
of  trunks  being  confiscated  because  they  contained  books, 
of  clothing  being  ruined,  passengers  detained  for  hours  and 
days  in  dirty  stations  because  they  could  not  speak  the 
Russian  language  sufficiently  to  give  an  account  of  them- 
selves, and  numerous  other  stories  calculated  to  excite  a 
profound  dread  and  anxiety  to  reach  and  cross  the  border  as 
soon  as  possible  and  have  the  ordeal  over  with. 

But  the  best  advice  I  got  out  of  a  thousand  words  of 
caution  and  instruction  was  to  advertise  myself  conspicuously 
and  frequently  as  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  a  country 
most  different  of  all  on  earth  from  that  which  I  was  about  to 
visit,  but  for  which  the  Czar  and  the  Nihilist,  and  all  the 
castes  and  classes  between  the  two  extremes,  have  an  abid- 
ing affection.  It  is  true  that  Russia  was  warmly  attached  to 
the  American  colonies  when  they  rebelled  and  secured  their 
independence ;  it  is  true  also  that  during  the  late  war  her 
sympathies  were  openly  manifested  on  the  side  of  the  North  ; 
it  is  true,  as  well,  that  the  emancipation  of  her  serfs  pre- 
ceded the  emancipation  of  our  slaves  by  four  years,  and  that 
the  two  nations  have  always  been  friendly :  but  just  why  the 
typical  autocracy  should  have  such  a  feeling  of  friendliness 
for  the  typical  democracy,  is  something  no  fellow  can  find 
out.  Americans  in  Russia  are  received  with  open  arms. 
They  suffer  less  annoyance  at  the  Customs  Houses,  and  at 
every  other  point  where  they  come  into  contact  with  the 
authorities,  than  the  people  of  any  other  country.  They  are 


1 8  KUSSfA: 

treated  infinitely  better  than  the  Russians  treat  their  own 
countrymen.  I  was  told  by  one  who  had  preceded  me  that 
"the  letters  "U.  S.  A."  on  my  trunk  would  be  as  good  as  the 
inspector's  chalk  mark,  and  it  was  a  good  deal  so. 

It  was  midnight  when  they  hustled  us  out  of  the  cars  at 
Wirballea,  the  Customs  House  station  on  the  Russian 
frontier,  and  led  us  into  a  dimly  lighted  room,  with  a  pen 
in  the  centre  where  our  baggage  had  already  been  placed. 
The  Customs  officials  do  not  trouble  the  traveller  to  assist 
them  in  the  examination  of  his  luggage,  but  they  coolly  call 
for  his  keys,  ask  him  to  point  out  his  trunk,  and  then  go 
through  it  as  if  they  were  hunting  for  something  they  want 
very  badly.  At  least  that  was  the  rule,  and  most  of  the  pas- 
sengers had  the  distressing  sensation  of  seeing  their  clothing 
and  valuables  tumbled  rudely  and  indiscriminately  upon  the 
floor.  Some  of  them,  and  ladies  only,  were  allowed  to 
repack  their  trunks,  but  that  was  the  exception.  The  in- 
spectors generally  took  the  trouble  to  repack  them  them- 
selves, and  they  did  it  in  a  way  that  excited  indignation. 

The  first  act  on  the  programme  was  to  array  the  pas- 
sengers around  the  pen  like  a  flock  of  sheep  waiting  to  be 
fed,  and  then  call  for  their  passports,  which  were  carried 
into  the  inner  room  by  an  officer,  while  we  awaited  the 
result  of  the  inspection.  In  about  five  minutes  an  inspector 
came  out  of  the  door  with  a  passport  in  his  hand  and  called 
the  name  of  him  who  owned  it.  I  thought  at  first  they 
had  caught  a  Nihilist,  but  it  turned  out  to  be  otherwise,  as 
the  man  whose  name  was  announced  only  came  forward  to 
deliver  up  his  keys  and  point  out  which  piece  of  baggage  in 
the  pen  belonged  to  him.  And  so  the  whole  list  of  passen- 
gers was  called  over  one  at  a  time,  at  intervals  of  a  few  sec- 
onds or  a  few  minutes,  my  turn  coming  near  the  last. 
Fortunately  I  got  an  inspector  who  was  a  gentleman  and 
could  talk  English.  After  I  pointed  out  my  trunks  and 
handed  him  the  keys,  I  had  to  enter  the  pen  to  show  him 
how  to  open  them,  as  the  locks  were  rather  peculiar. 

"  Have  you  any  cigars  ? "  he  asked. 


THE  RUSSIAN  CUSTOMS  HOUSES.  ig 

"  Yes,"  I  replied  ;  "  some  first-rate  ones  in  this  bag,"  and 
pulling  out  a  part  of  a  box  asked  him  to  help  himself.  He 
took  one,  and  being  urged,  a  handful.  Then  he  asked  if  I 
had  any  liquors.  I  told  him  I  had  none,  and  did  not  think 
there  was  anything  dutiable  in  my  baggage.  I  explained 
my  nationality,  and  my  purpose  in  visiting  Russia,  with  a 
few  compliments  for  himself  and  his  country  interlarded. 
Opening  one  of  the  trunks  he  found  a  number  of  books  in 
the  top  tray. 

"  What  are  these  ?  "  he  asked, 

"  Nothing  but  novels  and  guide-books." 

"  But  I'll  have  to  take  them  to  the  Chief  Inspector,"  he 
said,  and  he  did,  being  absent  about  fifteen  minutes.  When 
he  returned,  he  remarked,  "  I  guess  you  are  all  right,"  tossed 
the  books  into  the  trunk,  shut  the  lid,  and  chalked  the  rest 
of  the  luggage  without  looking  at  it. 

But  most  of  the  passengers  did  not  fare  so  well.  One  had 
a  lot  of  books  confiscated,  and  some  manuscript,  which  he 
claimed  related  to  business  matters,  but  the  gendarme  had  a 
notion  there  was  something  political  about  it.  Another,  a 
Russian  lady,  was  detained  till  the  next  train  because  of 
some  informality  in  her  passport,  while  several  suffered  much 
annoyance  and  distress  by  having  their  baggage  dumped  on 
the  floor  and  poked  over  as  if  it  were  a  lot  of  rags  that  re- 
quired disinfecting.  Several  had  cigars  and  liquors  confis- 
cated, small  quantities,  to  be  sure,  but  it  was  an  annoyance, 
caused  by  their  desire  to  deceive  the  inspectors.  I  noticed 
that  people  who  admitted  they  had  liquors  and  tobacco,  and 
produced  them  at  once,  were  not  troubled  ;  only  those  who 
tried  to  hide  the  stuff.  As  I  had  been  told  would  be  the 
case,  the  Englishmen,  of  whom  there  were  several  on  the 
train,  were  as  a  rule  treated  badly,  and  with  evident  malice. 

There  is  a  very  strong  contrast  between  the  appearance  of 
things  on  the  two  sides  of  the  boundary  between  Germany 
and  Russia ;  as  much  as  between  the  rural  districts  of 
Massachusetts  and  Mississippi.  On  the  German  side  the 
landscape  is  dotted  with  beautiful,  cosy  homes,  with  every 


2O  RUSSIA  : 

evidence  of  prosperity  and  thrift,  with  well-cultivated  fields, 
vine-clad  stables,  neat-looking  kine,  hedges  tastefully 
trimmed,  and  patches  of  flowers ;  while  in  the  towns  and 
villages  are  handsome  railway  stations,  tempting  cafes,  large 
factories,  handsome  school-houses,  and  every  evidence  of  a 
higher  civilization  and  prosperity.  On  the  east  side  of  the 
line  are  none  of  these  things,  and  the  change  takes. place 
instantly,  Thrift  and  comfort  are  replaced  by  distress  and 
degradation.  The  fields  are  uncultivated,  except  in  patches, 
here  and  there, — spots  where  it  is  the  easiest  to  plough, — 
the  cattle  are  lean  and  hungry,  the  homes  of  the  people  are 
log  or  mud  huts,  ;and  there  is  not  a  school-house  to  be  seen 
from  the  boundary  line  to  the  capital. 

There  are  churches  enough,  however,  for  in  every  collec- 
tion of  cabins  rises  a  splendid  temple  with  a  gilded  dome 
and  spire,  sheltering  a  mass  of  precious  vestments,  candle- 
sticks and  altar  plate  of  solid  silver,  and  usually  an  altar  of 
malachite,  lapis-lazuli,  or  some  other  precious  stone.  One 
always  finds,  even  in  the  most  poverty-stricken  and  desolate 
villages,  Icons  (as  the  pictures  of  the  Saviour  are  called)  cov- 
ered with  shields  of  gold,  and  ornamented  with  valuable 
jewels.  The  vestments  of  the  priests  cost  more  than  all  the 
rest  of  the  clothing  in  the  village,  and  the  contributions  for 
the  support  of  the  church  are  usually  equal  to,  if  they  are 
not  greater  than,  a  third  of  the  combined  incomes  of  the 
people.  Of  the  scanty  earnings  of  the  mujik  one-third  goes 
to  the  Church  and  another  third  to  the  Crown,  and  both  ex- 
actions are  paid  without  the  slightest  resistance.  The  mujik 
is  only  glad  that  the  priest  and  the  tax-gatherer  do  not  take 
all.  Centuries  of  oppression  have  left  their  stamp  indeli- 
bly upon  the  characters  of  the  people.  The  most  striking 
characteristics  of  the  Russian  peasant  are  sadness  and  sub- 
mission, and  the  desire  for  strong  drink.  A  Russian  seems 
to  be  truly  happy — I  am  speaking  of  the  lowest  class — only 
under  two  conditions — when  he  is  drunk  on  vodka,  the  corn 
brandy,  and  when  he  is  saying  his  prayers  before  his  favor- 
ite saint. 


THE  RUSSIAN  CUSTOMS  HOUSES.  2l 

To  him  the  interior  of  the  church,  gilded  from  floor  to 
dome,  and  decorated  with  ornaments  of  silver  and  gold,  is  a 
representation  of  the  heaven  the  priests  teach  him  is  await- 
ing those  who  say  their  prayers,  fast  on  fast  days,  and 
obey  the  Czar.  He  is  always  loyal  to  the  Church  and 
to  the  State.  The  uneducated  peasant  is  never  a  Nihilist, 
never  an  atheist,  but  pays  his  taxes  and  his  tithes  without 
murmuring,  and  expects  no  more  than  his  father  got,  which 
was  nothing.  The  only  recompense  he  has  is  to  creep  into 
some  gaudy  chapel,  bow  his  head  to  the  floor  in  front  of  the 
Icon  of  his  favorite  saint,  and  let  his  dull  and  listless  mind 
enjoy  the  visions  of  paradise  that  float  over  it.  The  church, 
with  its  marble  pillars,  the  vestments  of  gold  brocade,  and 
the  gold-encrusted  pictures,  make  the  most  beautiful  specta- 
cle his  foggy  imagination  can  conceive  of,  and  to  live  in  such 
a  place  forever,  like  the  effigies  he  sees  there,  is  heaven 
enough  for  him. 

How  the  people  live  is  a  mystery  to  those  who  have  not 
investigated  the  subject.  The  ordinary  traveller  sees  only 
their  little  gardens,  where  is  grown  a  scanty  allowance  of 
potatoes,  corn,  turnips,  and  cabbage.  They  eat  when  they 
are  hungry,  generally  cabbage  soup,  which  is  always  simmer- 
ing on  the  fire,  are  drunk  as  often  as  they  can  get  vodka, 
and  when  night  comes  curl  up  somewhere  on  the  floor  in  a 
warm  place  like  a  kitten  or  a  caterpillar.  In  the  cabins  one 
seldom  finds  a  bed  or  a  table"  or  a  chair,  and  very  few  dishes. 
They  have  no  comforts  whatever,  not  even  what  we  consider 
the  necessaries  of  life ;  the  Church  takes  the  place  of  them 
all. 


22  RUSSIA: 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE   CITY   OF    ST.    PETERSBURG. 

First  Impressions  of  its  Magnificence. — Romance  of  its  Construction. — 
The  great  Winter  Palace. — The  finest  Royal  Residence  in  the 
World. — The  Czar's  Dinner  Parties. — Rooms  of  Tragic  Interest. 

WHETHER  he  comes  from  the  East,  or  West,  or  Southward, 
by  any  route  he  takes,  unless  he  goes  by  sea,  the  traveller 
must  approach  the  capital  of  Russia  by  crossing  hundreds 
of  miles  of  dismal  forests,  bleak  plains,  and  swamps,  which 
offer  few  traces  of  human  habitation  or  industry.  There- 
fore the  first  impression  of  St.  Petersburg  is  an  exaggerated 
one,  for  it  seems  like  an  oasis  in  the  desert.  Within  a  few 
miles,  as  the  train  approaches  the  city,  one  notices  an  im- 
provement in  the  landscape  and  the  habitations  of  the  people. 
More  of  the  level  plain  is  cleared  of  the  firs  and  brambles 
that  infest  it ;  there  are  larger  spots  of  cultivated  ground,  and 
fences  are  seen  for  the  first  time.  The  highways  are  in  bet- 
ter order,  and  there  seems  to  be  more  industry  among  the 
people,  but  the  signs  of  poverty  and  dissipation  are  never 
absent  from  the  eye.  There  are  glimpses  of  towers  in  the 
distance,  showing  where  some  noble  or  wealthy  merchant  has 
a  country  place,  and  occasionally  the  gilded  or  gaudily 
colored  dome  of  a  church  or  a  chapel  connected  with  some 
sequestered  convent  or  monastery ;  but  there  is  nothing  to 
prepare  the  eye  for  the  panorama  that  is  brought  into  view 
when  the  train  takes  a  wide  curve  and  brings  the  spires 
and  domes  of  the  capital  before  it. 

Much  has  been  written  about  the  glories  of  St.  Petersburg. 
Many  writers  have  given  it  the  highest  place  on  the  list  of 
the  world's  capitals,  but,  while  it  is  grand,  it  has  not  the 
stately  commercial  buildings  of  New  York  and  Chicago,  nor 


THE  CITY  OF  ST.  PETERSBURG.  23 

has  it  the  cleanly,  artistic  beauty  of  Paris  ;  nor  the  mature 
and  noble  magnificence  of  London.  Vienna  architecture  is 
much  more  elaborate  ;  and  the  picturesque  residences,  undu- 
lating streets,  and  shaded  avenues  of  Washington  are  far 
more  pleasing  to  the  eye.  Still,  when  one  considers  how 
and  under  what  circumstances  the  city  was  built,  and  passes 
from  one  to  another  of  the  grandest  and  most  luxurious 


PETER  THE  GREAT,  AT  4< 


palaces  in  the  world,  the  mind  is  awakened  by  a  succession 
of  wonders,  and  finds  enough  to  admire. 

The  history  of  Petersburg  is  a  romance.  Miskewickz, 
a  Polish  poet,  wrote  :  "  Human  hands  built  Rome  ;  divine 
hands  created  Venice  ;  but  he  who  sees  St.  Petersburg  will 
say,  'This  town  is  the  work  of  the  devil.'  "  This  was,  how- 
ever, more  of  a  slur  upon  the  character  of  Peter  the  Great 
than  a  criticism  of  his  city.  The  boasted  glories  of  the  Rus- 
sian capital  are  exaggerated,  but  those  familiar  with  the  other 
great  cities  of  the  world  will  agree  that  it  is  the  most  con- 


24  RUSSIA: 

spicuous  triumph  of  human  industry  and  patience  in  exist- 
ence. There  are  a  multitude  of  shabby  buildings,  and  but 
few  great  works  of  marble  or  granite.  Most  of  the  struct- 
ures are  of  brick,  the  only  building  material  which  it  is  safe  to 
use  in  a  climate  where  the  extremes  of  cold  and  heat  follow 
each  other,  for  Petersburg  in  the  winter  season  is  one  of 
the  coldest  places  of  human  abode,  and  often  in  the  summer 
is  as  hot  as  Cairo  or  Naples.  The  bricks  used  are  cheap 
and  porous,  and  are  invariably  stuccoed  on  the  outside  in 
ornamental  designs;  and  the  architectural  effect  is  often 
ruined  by  painting  the  exterior  in  hideous  colors.  The 
Winter  Palace,  one  of  the  largest  and 
most  magnificent  buildings  in  the  world 
—I  believe  only  the  Vatican  and  the 
palaces  at  Versailles  cover  a  greater 
area — is  painted  a  distressing  orange, 
while  other  noble  structures  are  green 
or  yellow,  and  often  covered  with  blue 
roofs.  But  the  prevailing  tint  is  an  im- 
itation of  sandstone,  like  the  buildings 
ALEXIS,  of  Paris. 

FatherofPetertheGreat.          Ivan  ^  TerriWe    conceived    the    idea 

of  erecting  a  city  on  the  Gulf  of  Finland,  but  it  remained  for 
Peter  the  Great,  the  most  enterprising  and  progressive  of  all 
the  Russian  Czars,  to  carry  it  into  effect.  When  Peter  went 
to  England  in  his  youth,  he  was  the  first  of  the  sovereigns 
to  leave  the  boundaries  of  the  Empire.  He  not  only  studied 
ship-building  in  Holland,  but  got  a  fair  idea  of  the  world's 
progress,  and  the  enterprise  of  other  nations  ;  and  saw  on 
his  accession  to  power  that  he  must  have  some  defence 
on  the  northern  boundary  against  the  aggressive  Swedes. 
He  began  by  conquering  Finland,  and  then,  selecting  the 
most  available  site  near  the  mouth  of  the  Neva  river,  called 
a  vast  army  into  service  to  subdue  the  swamps.  Every  year 
forty  thousand  workmen  were  drafted  from  different  parts  of 
his  dominions  to  dig  and  fill,  hew  stone,  make  bricks,  and 
build  walls;  and  he  stood  by  as  their  master-builder,  super- 


THE  CITY  OF  ST.  PETERSBURG.  2$ 

intending  everything,  directing  all  the  details,  and  carrying 
out  the  plans  of  architects  who  were  brought  from  the 
other  great  cities  of  Europe. 

Every  boat  upon  the  Neva  or  the  Gulf  of  Finland,  and 
every  cart  upon  the  highway,  had  to  bring  to  Petersburg  a 
certain  amount  of  building  material  annually  as  a  tax  ;  and 
every  noble^  and  property  owner  in  the  empire  had  to  contri- 
bute something  toward  the  construction  of  the  palaces.  All 


PETER  AS  A  YOUNG  MAN. 

the  nobles  of  the  court  were  required  to  erect  residences,  and 
the  price  they  paid  for  the  land  went  into  the  fund  from 
which  the  Government  buildings  were  paid  for.  All  the 
thieves  in  the  prisons,  all  the  exiles  in  Siberia,  were  sent  to 
Petersburg  to  labor,  and  there  was  not  a  man,  woman,  or 
child  in  all  the  dominion  of  Peter,  but  did  something  toward 
carrying  out  the  Czar's  great  plan. 

Peter  has  left  posterity,  in  a  series  of  ukases  promul- 
gated during  the  construction  of  his  capital,  a  fair  idea  of  the 
motives  and  methods  of  a  remarkable  man  and  a  remark- 


26  RUSSIA  : 

able  work.  A  monarch,  without  technical  knowledge,  with 
none  but  rude  tools  and  poor  materials  and  no  skilled  work- 
men, who  should  undertake  in  this  age  to  erect  a  city  of 
palaces  in  a  marsh,  would  be  considered  insane.  It  was  an 
enterprise  none  but  an  autocrat  would  attempt,  and  none  but 
an  autocrat  could  execute  ;  but  with  titanic  energy  and  bound- 
less enthusiasm  Peter  commenced  and  continued  the  work. 
His  instruments  were  constantly  breaking  in  his  hands,  his 
workmen  died  by  the  thousand,  his  walls  crumbled  and  his 
foundations  sank  in  the  mud ;  yet  he  toiled  on  with  a  persist- 
ence and  a  courage  that  have  never  been  surpassed,  recogniz- 
ing his  mistakes  soon  enough  to  correct  them,  never  allowing 
a  word  of  despondency  to  escape  himself,  or  permitting  an  ex- 
pression of  discouragement  from  others,  until  death  came 
and  took  him  from  his  half  finished  city. 

Everything  was  on  the  most  colossal  scale,  and  every  plan 
was  approved  by  Peter  before  it  could  be  executed.  He  de- 
termined how  much  land  each  noble  should  occupy,  and  how 
much  money  he  should  invest  in  his  residence.  There  was 
never  such  a  work  going  on  before  or  since  in  the  world. 
The  construction  of  the  tower  of  Babel  was  child's  play  to 
it ;  the  pyramids  of  Egypt  required  centuries  to  erect ;  and 
Rome,  it  is  said,  was  not  built  in  a  day  ;  but  nine  years  from 
the  time  when  the  first  spade  entered  the  earth,  the  new 
capital  was  ready  to  receive  the  government,  which  was 
removed  from  the  hoary  and  holy  city  of  Moscow  with  great 
ceremony. 

Although  it  was  the  greatest  work  ever  conceived  and  exe- 
cuted by  man,  the  conditions  under  which  the  great  struct- 
ures were  erected,  the  insecure  foundations  upon  which  they 
stood,  and  their  imperfect  workmanship,  made  it  necessary 
during  the  succeeding  century,  to  rebuild  the  entire  place, 
and  only  within  the  present  century  has  Petersburg  been 
finished,  as  one  might  say.  Each  succeeding  sovereign  has 
erected  palaces,  most  of  which  are  useless  and  empty  ;  the 
various  branches  of  the  imperial  family,  the  Grand  Dukes 
and  the  Princes,  the  rich  boyars  who  wanted  to  be  near  the 


THE  CITY  OF  ST.  PETERSBURG.  2/ 

throne,  and  all  the  followers  of  the  court  from  Peter's  time 
till  now  have  constructed  magnificent  dwellings,  often  ruin- 
ing themselves  and  their  creditors  by  their  extravagance,  but 
contributing  to  the  general  grandeur.  There  is  no  race  of 
people  who  rest  so  much  upon  external  appearances,  none 
who  love  display  more  or  are  more  wastefully  extravagant 
than  the  Russians.  The  example  of  their  sovereigns,  and 
the  system  of  serfdom  made  them  so,  and  their  love  of  luxury 
is  a  passion.  Therefore  in  Petersburg  one  finds  more  wasted 
treasure,  more  fortunes  invested  in  the  useless  gratification 
of  the  taste  for  dis-play,  more  wicked  extravagance,  than  else- 
where in  the  entire  world.  The  visitor  who  has  been  edu- 
cated in  the  thrift  and  economy  of  the  Anglo-Saxon,  who 
has  been  taught  that  the  idle  expenditure  of  wealth  is  a 
crime,  will  be  impressed  most  of  all  things  by  the  criminal 
excess  of  display  in  every  one  of  the  long  line  of  palaces 
there  is  no  -use  or  reason  for ;  and  when  he  stops  to  think 
that  the  money  they  have  cost  has  been  wrung  from  the  de- 
graded, desolate,  and  starving  poor,  he  can  scarcely  restrain 
an  indignant  remonstrance. 

Take  the  Winter  Palace  for  instance,  which  I  have  said  is 
one  of  the  finest  buildings  in  the  world.  It  is  about  twice 
the  size  of  the  Capitol  at  Washington,  a  square  structure 
fronting  on  the  Neva,  containing  seventeen  hundred  rooms, 
and  it  is  said  that  in  olden  times  as  many  as  six  thousand 
people,  including  a  guard  of  soldiers,  have  been  sheltered 
and  fed  under  its  roof.  The  roof  itself  used  to  be  the  dwell- 
ing-place of  a  large  colony,  when  it  was  necessary  to  keep 
watchmen  against  fire  there,  and  men  whose  business  was  to 
prevent  the  reservoirs  from  freezing  by  casting  red-hot  can- 
non balls  into  the  tanks.  These  built  huts  between  the  chim- 
neys of  the  great  palace,  had  their  families  there,  and  even 
raised  chickens,  pigs,  and  goats  ninety  feet  from  the  ground. 
But  such  guards  are  unnecessary  now,  in  the  age  of  water- 
works and  fire-engines. 

The  palaces  of  the  Louis  at  Versailles  and  of  the  Ger- 
man Emperor  at  Potsdam  are  much  more  chaste  and  noble 


28  RUSSIA: 

specimens  of  architecture  ;  the  Queen's  Castle  at  Windsor 
is  by  far  more  picturesque  ;  the  new  building  for  the  State, 
War,  and  Navy  Departments  at  Washington  surpasses  the 
Winter  Palace  in  beauty  and  simple  elegance ;  while  the 
new  Palace  of  Justice  at  Brussels,  the  finest  architectural 
work  of  this  century,  is  grander,  more  graceful  and  pleasing 
in  every  respect ;  yet  in  none  of  these  has  so  great  an 
attempt  at  display  been  made,  or  so  much  money  expended. 
The  Winter  Palace  is  a  mixture  of  splendor  and  shabbiness, 
and  one  finds  it  difficult  to  determine  which  offends  him 
most. 

The  present  building  was  erected  upon  the  site  of  one 
occupied  by  the  High  Admiral  in  the  time  of  Peter  the 
Great,  and  bequeathed  by  him  to  Peter's  son.  In  1754  that 
was  pulled  down  by  the  Empress  Anne,  who  commenced  the 
erection  of  the  present  edifice,  but  left  it  to  be  completed 
by  the  Empress  Catherine  in  1762.  Much  of  the  interior  was 
destroyed  by  fire  in  1837,  t>ut  was  rebuilt,  and  the  whole 
was  renewed  in  its  present  form  in  1839,  at  a  cost  °^  about 
fifty  million  roubles.  The  palace  has  been  occupied  during 
the  winter  by  all  the  Czars  till  the  present  one,  who  will  not 
live  there,  but  keeps  it  for  ceremonials  only,  while  he 
resides  in  the  much  smaller  and  less  imposing  house  which 
he  occupied  while  Crown  Prince,  on  the  Nevski  Prospect — 
the  Fifth  Avenue  of  Petersburg. 

The  main  entrance,  which,  however,  is  used  only  on 
occasions  of  ceremony,  opens  from  the  banks  of  the  river 
into  a  magnificent  vestibule  of  marble,  with  wide  stairways 
reaching  to  the  several  halls  and  imperial  reception-rooms 
above.  The  stairway  is  adorned  by  groups  of  statuary,  and 
the  long  vestibule,  two  hundred  feet  by  sixty,  presents  an 
array  of  ideal  figures  in  marble,  as  well  as  statues  of  the 
heroes  of  Russian  history.  The  Throne  Room  is  a  magnifi- 
cent apartment  of  marble,  so  lairge  that  the  entire  White 
House  at  Washington  might  be  erected  within  its  walls ;  and 
here,  upon  New  Year's  day,  the  Czar  receives  the  congratu- 
lations of  the  Diplomatic  corps,  the  high  officers  of  the 


THE  CITY  OF  ST.  PETERSBURG.  2Q 

government,  the  army,  and  the  nobles.  The  White  Hall  is 
also  fine  and  large,  but  the  most  imposing  apartment  is  the 
Hall  of  St.  George,  140  by  84  feet  in  size,  and  sixty  feet 
high,  of  Italian  marble,  with  a  ceiling  carved  and  gilded 
with  pure  gold  leaf.  There  is  no  finer  room  anywhere,  and 
it  is  used  only  for  the  assemblage  and  decoration  of  heroes 
of  the  order  of  St.  George,  the  highest  the  Czar  can  bestow, 
and  like  the  order  of  the  Garter  in  Great  Britain,  a  distinc- 
tion enjoyed  only  by  those  who  win  it  in  the  field  or  by 
some  great  service  to  the  state.  The  Czar  earned  the  deco- 
ration by  his  gallantry  in  the  late  war  with  Turkey,  but  most 
of  his  predecessors  have  not  so  been  decorated  till  they 
reached  the  throne.  It  has  rarely  been  given  as  a  compli- 
ment to  the  sovereigns  of  the  other  powers, — the  Kaiser  of 
Germany  wears  it ;  some  great  inventors  have  received  it ; 
but  the  great  part  of  the  members  have  won  the  distinction 
in  battle. 

Another  fine  room  is  the  Hall  of  the  Ambassadors,  where 
the  Diplomatic  corps  assembles  on  occasions  of  ceremony, 
while  another  is  the  Hall  of  the  Field  Marshals,  so  called 
because  the  walls  are  covered  with  the  portraits  of  those 
who  have  commanded  the  armies  of  Russia.  These  great 
rooms  can  accommodate  a  vast  multitude,  and  the  balls  £nd 
receptions  that  have  taken  place  there  surpass  description. 
No  court  in  Europe  is  so  lavish  in  display  as  that  of  Russia, 
and  although  the  Czar  entertains  but  seldom,  he  makes  up 
in  splendor  what  he  denies  in  frequency.  There  are  several 
volumes  in  French  devoted  to  a  description  of  the  displays 
of  Catherine,  Paul,  Alexander  the  First,  Nicholas,  and  other 
sovereigns  in  this  palace,  and  if  any  one  cares  to  know  what 
a  ball  in  the  Winter  Palace  is,  let  him  read  that  charming 
little  book  by  the  daughter  of  ex-Minister  Stoughton,  called 
"The  Czar's  Window." 

These  great  halls  have  sometimes  been  used  for  banquets, 
and  in  them  have  dined  three  thousand  persons,  all  seated 
at  tables,  served  on  solid  silver  plate  throughout  a  menu  of 
twelve  courses,  by  eighteen  hundred  liveried  attendants,  and 


30  RUSSIA  : 

the  imperial  family  have  sat  upon  a  platform  at  the  end  of 
the  room,  and  taken  their  dinners  off  dishes  of  solid  gold. 

The  rest  of  the  great  palace  is  divided  into  long  lines  of 
dining-rooms,  drawing-rooms,  art  galleries,  reception-rooms, 
etc.,  etc.,  the  most  of  which  are  of  great  beauty  and  gor- 
geousness,  and  the  amount  of  gilding  to  be  seen  passes  all 
comparison.  Not  only  the  furniture,  but  the  walls,  the  ceil- 
ings, the  doors,  and  the  mouldings  around  the  windows,  are 
covered  with  sheets  of  gold.  There  seems  to  be  no  end  to 
the  bedizening  display.  Wherever  an  opportunity  offered 
to  lay  on  a  lot  of  gold  leaf  there  was  no  failure  to  do  it, 
and  the  amount  of  bullion  hammered 
into  sheets  and  spread  over  that  building 
must  have  been  enormous. 

There  are  several  drawing  -  rooms 
whose  walls  are  of  single  sheets  of  glass 
of  various  colors,  set  in  gilded  frames, 
and  the  effect  is  gorgeous.  We  had  seen 
no  end  of  mirrors  elsewhere,  miles  and 
miles  of  them,  in  the  most  unexpected 
and  inexplicable  places,  mirrors  in  clos- 
ets and  attics  and  cellars,  bath-rooms 
and  boudoirs  lined,  ceiled  and  floored  with  them,  but  these 
glass  rooms  were  something  new.  Imagine  if  you  can  a 
large  apartment,  forty  or  fifty  feet  square,  with  walls  and 
ceiling  of  purple  glass,  set  in  a  heavily  carved  cornice  of 
gold,  the  panels  broken  now  and  then  by  gilded  tracery 
and  filigree  work,  and  from  the  centre  of  the  ceiling  an 
immense  crystal  chandelier  of  the  same  color  hanging. 
And  there  is  not  only  a  purple  glass  room,  but  yellow,  blue, 
pink,  scarlet,  and  all  the  other  colors  in  the  rainbow  are  rep- 
resented. There  are  Japanese  rooms,  Chinese  rooms,  fitted 
and  finished  most  sumptuously,  Pompeiian  rooms,  Roman 
rooms,  and  rooms  setting  forth  an  example  of  the  luxury, 
the  taste,  and  the  fabrics  of  all  ages  and  races.  Dozens  of 
rooms  are  hung  with  Gobelin  tapestry,  and  hundreds  with 
ordinary  silk  and  satin  brocades.  There  is  the  gold  room 


THE  CITY  OF  ST.  PETERSBURG.  3! 

and  the  silver  room,  the  red  marble  and  the  green  marble 
rooms,  and  a  bewildering  series  of  apartments  that  one 
cannot  remember. 

The  most  elegant,  tasteful,  and  glittering  of  all  the  apart- 
ments is  the  drawing-room  of  the  Empress,  where  she 
receives  in  state.  It  is  full  of  gold,  statuary,  and  mirrors. 
In  size  it  is  about  forty  by  sixty  feet.  The  window  hangings 
are  of  the  most  exquisite  hand  embroidery,  presented  to  the 
.wife  of  the  late  Czar  by  the  ladies  of  Petersburg.  The 
carpet  is  a  Persian  fabric  in  a  single  piece,  woven  to  fit  the 
room,  the  gift  of  the  Shah  of  Persia.  The  chandeliers  are 
masses  of  crystal,  holding  30,000  candles ;  the  two  mantles 
at  either  end  are  of  that  deep  blue  stone,  with  gold 
threads  running  through  it — the  lapis-lazuli ;  and  the  doors 
are  set  with  jewels — amethysts,  emeralds,  turquoises,  topazes, 
and  other  stones.  There  is  not  only  an  enormous  wealth  of 
decoration,  but  in  this  room  it  is  usually  well  bestowed. 

After  passing  through  all  these  state  departments,  the 
visitor  is  taken  to  the  Romanoff  portrait  gallery,  where  are 
pictures  of  all  the  sovereigns  of  the  reigning  house.  Peter 
the  Great  and  Catherine  the  Great  appear  a  number  of 
times  in  different  costumes  and  poses ;  but  that  is  not 
strange.  You  can  scarcely  look  in  any  direction  in  Russia 
without  seeing  a  portrait  of  Catherine,  from  life;  and  Peter's 
pictures  are  comparatively  numerous.  It  is  said  that  Cath- 
erine sat  for  her  Court  portrait  painters  so  many  hours  every 
day,  making  it  a  rule  to  do  so,  and  that  she  usually  took  this 
time  to  receive  her  Ministers.  One  who  has  been  through 
the  art  galleries  and  palaces  of  Russia  can  easily  believe  the 
story. 

That  portion  of  the  palace  which  is  fitted  up  for  the  use 
of  the  imperial  family  is  not  often  shown  to  visitors,  but  we 
were  fortunate  in  having  for  an  escort  a  gentleman  of  offi- 
cial prominence  in  the  empire,  a  member  of  the  Czar's 
Privy  Council,  who  was  well  known  to  the  attendants,  and 
before  whom  all  doors  flew  open  ;  so  that  we  were  enabled 
to  see  not  only  the  living  rooms,  the  bed-chambers,  but  even 


32  RUSSIA: 

the  bath-rooms  and  the  china  closets.  The  presence  of  our 
escort,  however,  did  not  cause  the  slightest  relaxation  of  the 
espionage  that  is  maintained  over  all  who  enter  the  palaces 
and  museums  of  Russia ;  and  we  were  even  required  to  pro- 
duce an  endorsement  from  the  American  Minister  together 
with  our  passports.  Our  names,  residences,  occupations, 
and  descriptions  of  our  persons  were  also  registered  by  the 
officer  in  charge,  a  precaution  that  has  been  made  neces- 
sary by  the  invention  of  dynamite.  We  were  never  without, 
the  attendance  of  two  officers  who  kept  closely  at  our  heels, 
to  see  that  we  did  not  steal  or  destroy  anything.  There 
have  been  two  explosions  of  dynamite  in  the  Winter  Palace, 
but  all  traces  of  the  damage  done  have  been  removed. 

The  living  rooms,  the  only  portion  of  the  palace  that  was 
not  intended  for  display,  are  very  plain,  and  often  shabby ; 
never  better,  and  often  less  comfortable  and  tasteful  than  the 
average  residence  of  the  American  citizen.  I  noticed  this 
peculiarity  in  all  the  dozen  or  more  palaces  we  were  allowed 
to  visit.  Many  of  the  rooms  actually  in  use  by  the  imperial 
family  were  devoid  of  what  we  consider  the  necessaries  of 
comfort.  The  apartments  of  the  Czar  and  the  family  are  on 
the  ground  floor,  and  are  reached  by  a  private  entrance. 
They  have  never  been  occupied  by  the  present  sovereign, 
but  remain  as  his  father  left  them.  The  apartments  in 
which  the  Grand  Duke  Alexis  formerly  lived,  before  his 
father's  assassination,  are  in  the  top  story,  under  the  roof, 
and  the  only  elevator  in  the  building  was  put  up  for  his 
especial  benefit,  a  small  contrivance,  running  up  beside  a 
spiral  stairway. 

A  melancholy  interest  attaches  to  the  chamber  in  which 
the  late  Czar  died,  but  it  is  shown  to  few  people.  He  was 
brought  here  from  the  scene  of  his  assassination,  and  died 
ir>  twenty  minutes  after  reaching  his  bed.  There  is  a  little 
room  on  the  ground-floor  which  was  occupied  for  thirty 
years  by  the  great  Emperor  Nicholas,  the  "  Iron  Czar,"  as 
he  was  known,  who  died  heart-broken  upon  hearing  of  the  ill 
success  in  the  Crimea.  It  is  the  smallest,  plainest  room  in 


THE  CITY  OF  ST.  PETERSBURG.  ^ 

the  whole  building,  and  was  at  once  his  library  and  bed- 
room. Everything  remains  just  as  it  was  when  he  died,  and 
a  sentinel  stands  always  at  the  door.  Before  the  window  is 
a  small  writing-desk,  upon  which  are  his  portfolio,  pens,  and 
paper,  exactly  as  he  left  them.  The  plain  furniture  is  worn 
and  dilapidated.  The  iron  bedstead,  nothing  but  a  camp 
cot,  on  which  he  slept  for  years,  is  in  the  other  corner  of 
the  room,  with  the  great  military  coat  he  always  used  as  a 
coverlid,  lying  upon  it.  His  patched  slippers  are  beside  the 
bed,  and  upon  nails  driven  in  the  wall  hangs  his  uniform. 
In  a  chest  of  drawers  near  by  are  his  coarse  underclothing, 
and  his  cane  and  sword  are  hanging  from  a  hook  with  his 
hat  above  them.  On  the  walls  are  portraits  of  some  of  his 
generals,  and  on  a  little  table  at  the  head  of  his  bed,  with 
a  candlestick  and  a  prayer-book,  well  used,  are  the  pictures 
of  his  wife  and  children.  Adjoining  the  little  chamber  is  an 
ante-room,  in  which  his  ministers  awaited  an  audience,  and 
they  had  to  sit  upon  an  ordinary  wooden  bench.  A  spiral 
stairway  leads  to  the  quarters  of  the  Empress  above,  so  that 
he  and  she  could  go  back  and  forth  without  passing  through 
any  other  room  ;  and  there  was  a  concealed  entrance  by 
which  he  could  reach  the  street  and  return  without  being 
observed  by  any  one. 

The  death  of  Nicholas  created  a  profound  sensation 
throughout  the  world.  He  was  one  of  the  greatest  men 
Russia  has  produced.  He  was  the  third  son  of  the  eccen- 
tric Czar  Paul,  but  was  carefully  educated  by  his  mother, 
Marie,  a  good  and  wise  woman.  Nicholas  was  five  years 
old  when  his  father  was  assassinated,  and  his  brother,  Alex- 
ander, ascended  the  throne.  During  the  reign  of  Alexander 
he  remained  quietly  in  the  background,  employing  himself 
in  studies  which  afterward  proved  of  much  benefit  to  the 
empire,  and  performing  military  duties  for  which  he  had  a 
great  taste.  When  he  was  thirty  years  old  Alexander  died 
childless.  His  brother  Constantine,  sixteen  years  older 
than  himself,  was  the  lawful  heir  to  the  throne,  but  having 
inherited  all  of  the  bad  qualities  of  his  father  and  none  of 
3 


34 


RUSSIA  : 


the  good  ones,  was  hated  and  thoroughly  despised  by  every- 
body in  Russia.  In  a  passion  with  his  brother  Alexander, 
Constantine  had  left  Russia,  declaring  that  he  should  never 
return,  and  had  allied  himself  with  a  low  Polish  woman, 
being  honest,  however,  to  marry  her,  and  it  is  said  it  was  the 
only  honorable  act  he  ever  did. 

There  was  a  general  feeling  ot  relief  among  the  members 
of  the  court  and  the  people  when  the  Privy  Council  opened 
the  will  of  Alexander,  and  found  therein  a  formal  paper 
signed  by  Constantine,  abdicating  all  his  claims  to  the 
throne  in  favor  of  his  brother  Nicholas,  with  a  decree  from 
Alexander  declaring  Nicholas  to  be  his  successor.  Some 
of  the  political  malcontents,  and  a  few  ruffians  who  had  a 
friendly  feeling  for  Constantine,  declared  that  the  docu- 
ments were  forged,  and  incited  a  revolution  that  looked 
serious  for  a  time ;  but  Nicholas,  sword  in  hand,  at  the  head 
of  his  own  regiment  of  the  Guards,  had  one  battle  with  the 
insurgents,  and  silenced  them  with  a  fearful  slaughter  in  one 
of  the  streets  of  Petersburg.  Then  he  declined  to  take  the 
throne  without  a  renewed  formal  acknowledgment  from  Con- 
stantine of  his  abdication,  which  was  given. 

Nicholas  was  the  typical  tyrant, — the  "  Iron  Czar,"— but 
had  a  genuine  interest  in  the  welfare  of  his  people,  and 
although  the  empire  was  constantly  engaged  in  foreign  wars 
during  his  reign  of  thirty  years,  he  was  universally  popular. 
His  life  was  comparatively  free  from  the  taints  of  his  prede- 
cessors :  he  was  the  first  of  the  Russian  rulers  who  was  not 
guilty  of  wicked  extravagance  and  profligacy  ;  he  was  as 
just  as  an  autocrat  can  be,  and  had  the  highest  ambition  for 
the  empire.  The  shock  of  the  news  of  the  defeats  of  the 
Russian  legions  in  the  Crimea  was  more  than  his  enfeebled 
constitution  could  endure,  and  he,  one  of  the  very  few 
Czars  who  had  not  been  assassinated,  died  in  1855  of  a 
broken  heart.  Some  historians  maintain  that  he  committed 
suicide  because  of  the  defeats  of  his  army  by  the  allies. 
However  this  was,  before  his  death  he  wrote  a  proclamation, 
forgiving  all  his  enemies,  directing  the  pardon  and  release 


THE  CITY  OF  ST.  PETERSBURG. 


35 


of  a  large  number  of  political  convicts  in  prison  and  exile, 
thanking  his  ministers  and  generals  for  their  devotion,  the 
army  and  people  for  their  loyalty  to  him,  and  declaring  that 
the  purpose  of  his  life  had  been  solely  the  good  of  his  coun- 
try. Then  he  had  a  telegram  sent  to  all  parts  of  the  em- 
pire announcing  that  the  Czar  was  dying,  and  desired  the 
prayers  of  his  subjects.  He  blessed  his  children,  gave  in- 
structions and  advice  to  Alexander  II.,  the  late  Czar,  his  son 
and  successor,  kissed  his  wife,  and  died  with  his  prayer- 
book  in  his  hands. 


RUSSIA  : 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  DANGEROUS  DVORNIK. 

The  Effective  Spy  System  of  Petersburg. — Trades  Unions  called 
"Artels." — Public  Ostentation  and  Private  Economy  among  the 
Upper  Classes. — Dishonesty  among  the  Merchants. 

THE  streets  of  Petersburg  are  wider  than  those  of  any  city 
in  the  world.  They  occupy  more  than  one  third  of  the  area 
of  the  entire  city,  and  most  of  them  are  two  hundred  feet 
between  the  building  lines.  Endless  almost  are  the  open 
spaces  and  squares,  treeless  and  unturfed,  surrounded  by 
houses  gauged  upon  the  same  scale  as  the  streets.  In  one 
place  you  can  walk  half  a  mile  and  pass  only  three  palaces ; 
and  it  is  common  for  a  single  residence  or  palace  to  occupy 
the  whole  front  of  a  long  block. 

Many  of  the  large  houses  belong  to  members  of  the 
imperial  family,  others  to  nobles,  and  more  to  wealthy  mer- 
chants and  bankers.  In  some  of  the  houses,  as  many  as  one 
hundred  servants  are  employed  ;  but  in  Russia  every  servant 
has  his  own  peculiar  duty,  and  will  not  do  anything  else. 
Wages  are  nominal,  however,  and  it  costs  little  to  keep  such 
a  retinue.  Servants  are  given  one  suit  of  livery  each  year, 
four  or  five  roubles  a  month,  and  what  they  can  steal  or 
obtain  as  tips  from  visitors,  which  is  a  good  deal  in  the  fam- 
ilies of  the  aristocracy.  When  a  guest  is  leaving  a  house 
where  he  has  been  entertained  for  a  week  or  a  day,  he  is 
met  at  the  door  on  his  departure  by  the  entire  household, 
from  the  boots  to  the  cook,  and  is  expected  to  give  every- 
body something,  and  the  same  is  the  case  at  all  the  hotels. 
If  he  is  entertained  at  dinner  or  at  luncheon,  he  is  expected 
to  give  a  tip  to  the  dvornik  who  opens  the  door  for  him,  the 
footman  who  takes  his  coat,  the  butler  who  serves  him  at 


THE  DANGEROUS  DVORNIK. 


37 


the  table,  and  so  on  all  around,  which  makes  dining-out  a 
rather  expensive  matter.  And  the  host  looks  on  compla- 
cently from  long  experience,  to  see  his  servants  paid  by  his 
guests. 

The  fact  that  nearly  the  entire  population  of  Petersburg 
and  other  cities  of  Russia  live  in  large  apartment-houses 
like  those  of  Paris,  makes  it  an  easy  matter  for  the  police  to 
exercise  a  constant  and  almost  absolute  surveillance  over 


THE   DVORNIK'S   DINNER. 

them,  day  and  night.  These  apartment-houses,  accommodat- 
ing ten,  fifteen,  and  sometimes  thirty  families,  have  but 
one  entrance,  through  which  all  must  pass — the  butcher, 
the  baker,  the  boy  from  the  telegraph  office,  the  man  who 
comes  to  take  the  slops,  and  the  ladies  who  are  paying  fash- 
ionable visits.  This  single  entrance  usually  leads  into  a 
large  court-yard,  which  furnishes  light  and  air  for  the  inner 
rooms,  and  is  a  thoroughfare  used  in  common  by  all  the  ten- 
ants. 

In   charge  of  the  entrance,  and  occupying  a  little  office 
on  the  ground-floor,  is  the  dvornik   or  concierge    or   door- 


38  RUSSIA: 

keeper  for  the  establishment.  He  has  the  keys  to  the  great 
oak  doors  that  bar  the  passage  after  certain  hours ;  he  sees 
all  who  enter;  he  takes  charge  of  the  letters  the  postman 
leaves,  and  the  packages  that  come  from  the  shops ;  he 
sweeps  the  front  pavement,  sprinkles  it  with  a  hose,  and  is 
responsible  for  the  tidy  appearance  of  the  court-yard  and 
the  stairway;  and  thus  far  is  a  harmless  and  a  useful  servant. 

But  his  relations  with  the  police  are  such  as  to  surround 
him  with  odium  to  any  illegal  lodger,  and  to  make  him  feared 
by  all  who  enter  his  door.  He  is  the  little  czar  of  that  estab- 
lishment, an  autocrat  with  unlimited  power;  and  if  he  is  dis- 
honest, a  very  dangerous  man.  But  no  matter  how  bad  he  is, 
neither  the  owner  of  the  apartment-house  nor  the  tenants  can 
get  rid  of  him  without  the  consent  of  the  police,  to  whom  he 
owes  a  higher  allegiance  than  to  his  employer.  His  wages 
are  paid  by  the  landlord  who  owns  the  building,  but  he  is 
appointed  by  the  Director-General  of  Police. 

In  Petersburg,  in  fact  throughout  all  Russia,  the  working- 
men  are  organized  in  unions  called  artels.  They  are  very 
much  like  the  trades  organizations  of  the  United  States, 
intended  for  mutual  strength  and  protection.  In  Russia  the 
artels  are  the  outgrowth  of  the  emancipation  of  the  serfs. 
When  a  coachman,  or  a  carpenter,  or  a  house-servant,  or  a 
shoemaker  was  no  longer  a  slave,  he  worked  for  whomever 
worjc  was  to  be  done,  for  such  wages  as  he  could  get.  He 
had  got  no  wages  before,  and  anything,  even  a  few  copecks, 
was  a  treasure  to  him.  The  several  trades  which  had 
been  under  the  control  of  freemen  soon  found  themselves 
disorganized  and  paralyzed  by  having  this  guerilla  sort  of 
competition,  and  the  artels  or  unions  are  the  result.  They 
do  not  exercise  the  tyranny  we  have  to  submit  to  in  the 
United  States  from  similar  organizations,  for  the  slightest 
approach  to  the  principles  of  socialism  is  sure  to  bring  down 
upon  the  heads  of  the  union  the  heavy  hand  of  the  police  ; 
but  for  the  purpose  of  regulating  wages  and  hours  of 
work,  and  keeping  up  the  character  of  the  several  occupa- 


THE  DANGEROUS  DVORNIK.  39 

tions,  the  artels  have  proven  very  useful  both  to  capital  and 
to  labor. 

Among  the  other  artels  is  that  of  the  dvorniks,  the  clos- 
est and  most  powerful  of  all,  for  it  has  the  patronage  of  the 
police  and  their  protection.  The  dvornik,  as  I  have  said, 
is  selected  by  the  police  for  the  house  which  he  attends. 
More  properly  speaking,  he  is  assigned  by  the  Grand  Master 
of  his  artel,  to  whom  the  landlord  of  the  apartment-house 
has  applied  for  a  door-keeper.  But  the  Grand  Master  is 
an  official  of  the  police,  is  in  constant  communication  with 
police  headquarters,  and  when  the  detectives  want  a  door- 
keeper changed  from  one  house  to  another,  when  they  want 
a  stupid  one  dismissed  and  a  keen  one  put  in  his  place,  it 
is  always  done.  If  they  have  occasion  to  suspect  that  the 
dvornik  of  a  suspicious  house  has  not  given  them  accurate 
information  as  to  the  movements  of  its  occupants,  or  if  they 
doubt  his  loyalty,  the  police  officers  can  have  him  shifted  to 
another  place  at  once,  and  a  sharper,  more  honest  and  loyal 
man  put  in  his  place.  Very  often  regular  detectives  are 
assigned  as  dvorniks,  when  the  ordinary  member  of  the 
artel  is  not  shrewd  enough  to  penetrate  the  mysteries  of  the 
establishment ;  but  under  all  circumstances,  the  door-keepers 
are  expected  to  keep  the  police  informed  of  everything  of 
importance 'that  happens  in  the  house  of  which  they  have 
charge.  An  inspector  may  call  upon  them  any  hour  of  the 
day  or  night.  They  know  him,  and  give  him  such  informa- 
tion as  they  choose.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  artel  of 
dvorniks  is  a  most  extensive  and  effective  system  of  spies. 

The  police  authorities  of  Russia  boast  that  they  know  the 
whereabouts  and  disposition  of  every  citizen  of  the  empire 
every  night, 'and  it  is  through  the  dvorniks  that  they  get  the 
most  of  their  information.  No  more  comprehensive  spy-sys- 
tem could  be  organized.  People  must  live  in  houses,  and 
the  law  requires  every  house  to  have  a  dvornik.  No  one  can 
be  so  employed  who  does  not  belong  to  the  artel,  and  the 
police  control  the  artel.  The  tenant  is  therefore  completely 
at  the  mercy  of  his  servant,  who,  if  so  disposed,  can  send 


4Q  RUSSIA  : 

him  to  Siberia  on  a  charge  of  treason  any  time  he  likes ;  and 
it  requires  little  more  than  a  dvornik's  testimony  to  obtain 
"  A  Wolf's  Passport,"  as  a  sentence  to  exile  is  called. 

It  will  also  be  seen  how  difficult,  how  nearly  impossible  it 
is  to  organize  Nihilistic  conspiracies  in  a  city  where  every 
building  is  so  watched.  Every  commotion  about  the  estab- 
lishment, every  unusual  assembly,  every  suspicious  visitor, 
every  mysterious  package  is  reported  to  the  police,  and 
packages  intended  for  occupants  of  a  house  are  usually 
examined  by  the  dvornik  before  they  are  delivered.  He  is 
apt  to  open  letters  and  telegrams  too,  if  he  can  read  them, 
for  with  the  protection  of  the  police  he  is  safe  in  any  imper- 
tinence. There  are  Nihilists  among  the  dvorniks,  as  there 
are  in  every  one  of  the  artels,  and  they  are  exceedingly 
useful  members  of  conspirators'  clubs.  One  of  the  most 
famous  of  the  Nihilistic  leaders,  since  hung,  was  for  many 
months  a  dvornik  at  the  residence  of  a  high  official  of  the 
Czar's  Government.  He  sought  the  place  for  the  infor- 
mation he  could  gain,  and  kept  it  as  long  as  the  information 
was  wanted. 

The  Nihilists  usually  meet  in  houses  where  the  dvor- 
niks are  friendly.  The  door-keeper,  of  course,  knows  when 
apartments  are  for  rent,  and  he  usually  has  the  authority  to 
let  them.  The  Nihilistic  dvornik  notifies  his  friends,  and 
they  come  in  as  tenants.  As  long  as  he  remains  and  is  loyal 
to  them,  they  are  comparatively  safe,  although  the  police  do 
not  depend  entirely  upon  the  dvorniks.  They  too  are  al- 
ways watched,  and  if  their  fidelity  is  doubted  in  the  slightest 
degree,  away  they  go  to  some  other  house,  or  on  the  retired 
list. 

Many  of  the  houses  of  private  citizens  in  Petersburg — 
and  the  rule  is  even  more  extensive  in  Moscow  and  other 
cities — are  quite  as  fine  and  gorgeous  as  some  of  the  palaces. 
The  development  of  trade  and  industry  has  naturally  en- 
riched the  mercantile  and  manufacturing  classes,  while  the 
emancipation  of  the  serfs  impoverished  most  of  the  nobles 
who  were  agriculturalists,  and  depended  upon  the  earnings 


THE  DANGEROUS  DVORNIK.  4! 

of  their  slaves  for  support.  The  conditions  are  about  the 
same  as  they  were  in  our  Southern  States  at  the  close  of  the 
war.  The  rich  and  aristocratic  planters  were  left  financially 
ruined,  with  lots  of  land  and  taxes,  and  extravagant  habits 
and  tastes.  Very  soon  a  new  race  of  citizens  came  in,  with 
fresh  blood  and  capital,  and  made  money.  The  old  nobles 
of  Russia  are  most  of  them  poor  and  proud,  especially 
proud.  Their  estates  are  paying  scarcely  enough  to  meet 
their  taxes,  and  are  heavily  mortgaged  to  the  Jews.  If  the 
Hebrew  race  did  not  have  so  firm  a  financial  hold  upon  the 
noblesse  of  Russia  there  would  be  more  religious  toleration 
in  the  empire. 

A  new  race  of  merchants,  bankers,  and  manufacturers 
has  arisen,  money  princes  who  are  beginning  to  be  felt  in 
the  body  politic.  They  buy  the  palaces  of  ruined  princes 
and  dukes  and  nobles,  spend  their  money  lavishly  in  decora- 
tions and  upholstery,  have  their  walls  covered  with  gigantic 
mirrors  and  fine  paintings,  fill  their  cellars  with  rare  wines, 
and  entertain  royally.  Their  banquets  and  balls  are  occa- 
sions for  the  display  of  extravagance,  each  attempting  to  ex- 
ceed the  other  in  wasteful  ostentation.  The  imperial  family 
sets  the  example  with  the  money  wrung  from  the  poor ;  the 
princes  and  nobles  follow ;  and  of  course  the  private  citizens 
must  keep  up  with  the  fashion.  Their  hospitality  is  pro- 
verbial. It  is  their  greatest  pride.  Strangers  are  always 
entertained  in  the  most  lavish  manner,  and  one  who  carries 
to  Petersburg  or  Moscow  letters  of  introduction  from  influ- 
ential people,  is  sure  to  be  wined  and  dined  as  long  as  he 
remains. 

But  behind  some  of  this  ostentatious  display  is  practised 
an  economy  which  the  people  try  to  conceal  as  if  they  were 
ashamed  of  it.  The  private  portions  of  the  gorgeous  homes — 
the  living  rooms — are  usually  plain  and  comfortless,  and  the 
cost  of  a  dinner-party  is  sufficient  to  keep  the  family  for  a 
month  or  more.  It  is  so  in  all  the  royal  residences.  The 
show  rooms  are  gorgeous,  but  the  living  rooms  do  not  keep 
up  the  standard.  They  are  plain  and  poor  enough  to  make 


42  RUSSIA: 

a  fair  average.  The  ladies  of  the  ordinary  household  have 
their  party  and  dinner  dresses  from  Paris,  but  the  garments 
in  which  they  appear  when  not  on  dress  parade  are  made 
by  their  own  servants  at  home,  always  plain,  and  often  shabby. 
Another  peculiarity  of  the  country  is  the  proverbial  dis- 
honesty of  the  tradesmen,  about  which  a  great  deal  has 


A    RUSSIAN    COOK. 

been  said  by  English  writers.  While  the  commercial  con- 
ditions are  steadily  improving,  and  are  not  so  bad  as  repre- 
sented by  English  authors,  who  are  more  or  less  inspired  by 
the  national  prejudice,  one  trades  in  Russia  with  a  great 
deal  of  caution.  The  ordinary  merchant  always  asks  a 
greater  price  than  he  expects  the  customer  to  pay,  particu- 
larly if  he  is  a  stranger  and  unfamiliar  with  the  value  of  the 


THE  DANGEROUS  DVORNIK. 


43 


article.  The  native  or  resident  knows  what  the  article 
sought  should  cost,  and  "beats  down"  the  salesman  accord- 
•  ingly.  The  tourist  who  does  not  attempt  to  do  so  makes  a 
mistake,  and  pays  a  heavy  tax  upon  his  ignorance.  Of  late 
the  principal  merchants  on  the  Nevski  Prospect  and  other 
fashionable  streets  have  attempted  a  reform  in  this  particu- 
lar, mark  their  goods  in  plain  figures,  and  hang  a  sign 
reading  "  Prices  Fixed  "  in  their  windows.  Their  example 
will  soon,  it  is  hoped,  extend  into  all  branches  of  the  com- 
mercial community ;  for  experience,  in  Russia  as  elsewhere, 
teaches  that  honesty  is  the  best  policy. 


44 


RUSSIA  : 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE   DROSKY   AND    ITS    DRIVER. 

Petersburg  a  City  of  Magnificent  Distances. — Cheap  Transportation. — 
Habits  of  the  Ishvoshtnik. — Travelling  in  the  Country. — Endur- 
ance of  the  Natives. — The  Genuine  Russian  Bath. — Village  Doc- 
tors. 

INSTEAD  of  Washington,  Petersburg  should  be  called  the 
City  of  Magnificent  Distances.  It  is  a  ride  of  three  quar- 
ters of  an  hour  from  the  railway  station  to  the  hotels  in  the 
centre  of  the  town,  and  it  is  so  far  to  almost  every  place  the 
stranger  wants  to  visit,  that  he  has  neither  the  time  nor  the 
strength  for  walking.  But  he  has  the  drosky,  a  curious  vehi- 
cle that  is  found  nowhere  else,  and  street  cars  that  take  him 
anywhere  and  everywhere.  Only  the  peasants  use  the  street 
cars,  however ;  and  we  were  warned  against  them  because  of 
the  vermin.  The  fares  are  very  cheap,  as  cheap  as  the  fer- 
ries in  New  York.  One  can  ride  from  one  end  of  the  city  to 
the  other  for  ten  copecks,  and  the  usual  fare  is  five — about 
two  cents.  But  the  droskies  are  quite  as  cheap  when  com- 
fort is  taken  into  consideration.  I  was  about  to  take  a  street 
car  one  day,  to  go  to  a  shop  a  mile  or  so  distant  from  the 
hotel,  when  my  courier  remonstrated,  and  insisted  upon  a 
drosky. 

"  But  what's  the  use  of  taking  a  drosky/'  I  said,  "  when 
the  cars  go  right  to  the  place." 

"  It  is  about  as  cheap  for  two  of  us,"  he  replied. 

And  so  it  was,  for  the  cost  of  the  journey  for  two  passen- 
gers, about  a  mile,  was  nine  cents,  and  we  were  hauled  by  a 
horse  that  would  sell  in  New  York  for  five  hundred  dollars. 

The  usual  drosky  fare  for  a  course  of  three  miles  and  less, 
as  fixed  by  law,  is  twenty  copecks,  and  a  copeck  is  one  hutv 


THE  DROSKY  AND  ITS  DRIVER. 


45 


dredth  part  of  a  rouble,  which  at  par  is  equal  to  sixty  cents 
of  United  States  money.  At  the  present  depreciated  con- 
dition of  the  Russian  currency,  a  rouble  is  worth  forty-five 
or  forty-six  cents  in  gold,  according  as  you  are  buying  or 
selling,  so  that  twenty  copecks  is  nine  cents.  By  the  hour 
the  drosky  fare  is  one  rouble,  with  a  tip,  or  "  tea-money,"  as 
they  call  it  in  Russia,  for  the  driver.  For  the  time  the  vehi- 
cle is  unemployed,  while  visiting  or  shopping  or  sight-see- 
ing or  at  the  theatre,  there  is  a  deduction  of  half  a  rouble 
an  hour,  so  that  the  cost  of  taking  a  drosky  to  the  theatre 


READY  FOR  A  START. 

for  three  hours,  and  having  it  wait  for  you,  is  about  ninety 
cents.  In  no  country  in  the  world  are  there  such  cheap, 
comfortable,  and  rapid  facilities  for  city  transportation  as  in 
Petersburg,  and  nowhere  can  one  find  such  splendid  horses. 
The  drosky  would  be  very  useful  and  popular  in  all  our 
cities,  particularly  if  it  could  be  drawn  by  Russian  horses. 
There  is  as  much  fascination  in  riding  in  a  drosky  as  in  a 


46  KUSSfA  : 

gondola  in  Venice,  and  it  is  the  first  thing  the  traveller 
wants  to  do  when  he  arrives  in  Petersburg.  He  will  send 
his  bags  by  the  omnibus,  and  go  to  the  hotel  in  a  drosky. 
It  is  a  low  vehicle,  the  floor  being  scarcely  more  than  a  foot 
from  the  ground,  on  four  wheels,  not  much  larger  than  those 
of  a  wheelbarrow — a  sort  of  miniature  victoria.  The  ish- 
voshnik,  or  driver,  sits  on  a  high  perch,  above  the  heads 
of  the  passengers,  who  have  a  low,  narrow,  backless  seat 
over  the  hind  wheels.  It  is  not  uncomfortable,  but  the  sen- 
sation at  first  is  alarming,  particularly  when  you  are  whiz- 


A  TROIKA. 

zing  around  a  corner,  for  the  drivers  always  go  like  mad,  and 
you  wish  there  was  something  to  hold  on  to.  But  you  can 
only  fasten  your  hands  on  the  seat  with  a  good  grip,  and 
cling  to  your  fellow  passenger  if  you  have  one. 

I  should  remark,  by  way  of  parenthesis,  that  when  a  gentle- 
man is  riding  with  a  lady  in  Russia,  in  the  daytime  as  well 
as  after  dark,  in  the  principal  thoroughfares  as  well  as  in 
the  secluded  portions  of  the  parks,  he  always  puts  his  arm 
around  her  waist.  It  is  the  custom  of  the  country,  and 
makes  drosky-riding  popular  with  young  people — as  popular 
as  dancing;  and  it  causes  no  more  remark  than  the  attitude 
of  a  waltz  in  a  ball  room.  Every  one  expects  it. 


THE  DROSKY  AND  771S"  DRIVER. 


47 


A  little  experience  causes  the  alarm  to  wear  off,  and  you 
become  accustomed  to  let  your  body  sway  with  the  motions 
of  the  vehicle.  I  inquired  if  any  one  was  ever  thrown  out 
of  a  drosky,  and  was  told  that  such  a  thing  never  happened ; 
and  I  think  it  is  true,  for  I  have  seen  men  riding  in  them 
so  drunk  that  I  thought  they  would  topple  over  the  next 
instant ;  but  they  never  did. 

The  horse  that  draws  you,  and  the  driver  who  holds  the 
reins,  are  both  Russian  institutions,  and  you  won't  find  their 
like  elsewhere.  There  are  poor  horses  in  Russia,  I  suppose, 
but  very  few  in  Petersburg  or  the  other  large  cities.  They 
are  tall,  long-legged  animals,  with  slender  bodies  and  limbs, 
long  silken  manes  and  tails,  the  latter  nearly  always  reach- 
ing to  the  ground,  small  heads,  small  feet,  large,  clear,  in- 
telligent eyes,  and  necks  arched  like  the  chargers  one  sees 
in  pictures  of  the  Bedouins  of  the  desert.  I  always  thought 
such  horses  were  the  creation  of  artists,  but  Russia  is  full  of 
them.  There  is  a  familiar  picture  of  wild  horses  fleeing 
from  a  fire  on  the  prairies,  with  long  manes  and  tails  floating 
in  the  breeze,  with  eyes  flashing  fire  and  fury,  and  flecks  of 
foam  floating  in  the  air  from  their  lips  and  nostrils  ;  and  an- 
other of  similar  animals  ridden  by  Bedouins  with  sheets 
wrapped  around  their  heads  and  cimetars  in  their  hands. 

I  have  often  admired  these  pictures  as  expressive  of 
all  that  horses  should  be,  but  I  never  saw  such  animals  alive 
till  I  went  to  Russia.  There  you  can  see  a  thousand  that 
look  just  as  if  they  had  stepped  out  of  that  picture,  on  any 
street  in  the  city  every  day,  many  of  them  harnessed  to 
droskies  that  you  can  hire  for  forty-five  cents  an  hour.  The 
ishvoshnik  is  always  proud  of  his  stallion  if  he  has  a  good 
one,  and  treats  him  much  better  than  he  does  his  wife. 
Nearly  all  the  time  he  is  disengaged,  the  ishvoshnik  is  either 
petting  or  rubbing  his  horse,  and  at  intervals  he  brings  out 
a  little  nose-bag  from  under  the  seat,  to  feed  him  oats  or 
meal. 

Not  one  in  ten  of  these  charioteers  has  a  home,  and  not 
one  in  ten  of  the  splendid  horses  knows  the  inside  of  a  sta- 


48  RUSSIA: 

ble.  They  live  in  the  harness,  in  the  open  air,  summer  and 
winter,  being  always  on  duty,  eating  when  opportunity  offers, 
and  sleeping  in  their  droskies  between  drives.  Water 
troughs  are  erected  at  intervals,  small  packages  of  hay,  oats, 
and  meal  are  sold  at  the  shops  along  the  wayside,  and  the 
ishvoshtnik  gets  his  coffee  and  his  meat  at  the  same  places, 
feeding,  as  he  lives,  with  his  horse.  Both  horse  and  master 
seem  never  to  tire,  both  are  continually  on  the  alert,  the 
drivers  are  always  cheerful  and  good-natured,  and  the  horses 
always  ready  to  start  off  like  a  whirlwind  as  soon  as  the  get 
the  word.  Neither  seem  to  care  for  the  cold  or  rain,  and 
the  one  is  about  as  much  an  animal  as  the  other. 

The  harness  of  the  horse  is  as  light  as  leather  can  be 
made,  none  of  the  straps  being  more  than  half  an  inch  in 
width,  and  most  of  them  are  round,  not  larger  than  a  lead 
pencil.  There  is  no  breeching,  because  there  are  no  grades 
in  Petersburg,  the  country  being  perfectly  level.  There  are 
no  blinders  on  the  bridle,  for  the  horse  fears  nothing.  He 
will  walk  up  to  a  locomotive  with  as  much  indifference  as 
a  man.  He  never  shies,  never  gets  rattled,  never  runs  away, 
and  is  perfectly  obedient  to  the  voice  of  his  master.  There 
are  no  traces,  as  the  vehicle  is  drawn  by  thills  made  fast 
to  the  heavy  collar  with  a  high  hoop  over  the  horse's  neck. 
The  collar  is  a  part  of  the  drosky,  not  of  the  harness,  for 
when  the  horse  is  taken  away  from  the  vehicle,  the  collar 
goes  with  the  latter. 

The  hoop  over  the  horse's  neck,  which  connects  the  ends 
of  the  thills,  and  looks  like  an  exaggerated,  badly  formed 
horseshoe,  is  called  the  "  duga  ;  "  and  underneath  the  apex, 
on  equipages  in  the  country,  is  fastened  a  big  bell  some- 
times two  or  three  bells,  which  jangle  so  loudly  that  they 
may  be  heard  a  half  mile  away.  The  purpose  of  the  bell 
is  to  announce  the  coming  of  the  horseman,  to  frighten 
away  the  wolves  that  infest  the  country  roads,  and  to  warn 
other  travellers  upon  narrow  and  dangerous  highways  against 
collisions.  The  droskies  in  the  cities  were  formerly  decorated 
with  bells,  but  they  made  such  a  din  that  the  government 


THE  DROSKY  AND  ITS  DRIVER. 


49 


issued  an  edict  to  abolish  them.  Now,  when  the  vehicle  is 
approaching  a  corner  at  a  high  rate  of  speed,  and  it  never 
goes  slowly,  the  driver  announces  his  coming  by  a  shout — a 
peculiar,  prolonged  tone,  like  the  gondoliers  use  at  Venice. 
In  winter,  bells  are  necessary,  for  the  sledges  are  noiseless, 
and  the  ordinary  speed  is  so  great. 

A  whip  is  never  used.  I  did  not  see  one  during  my  entire 
stay  in  Petersburg ;  but  the  ishvoshtnik  keeps  up  a  continual 
one-sided  conversation  with  his  fleet-footed  partner,  now 
encouraging  him  with  tender,  caressing  epithets ;  now  sting- 
ing him  with  sarcasm  and  taunts  of  scorn  ;  and  again  hurling 
at  him  profane  expletives.  The  effect  of  the  driver's  voice 
is  peculiar  and  powerful  ;  and  an  observant  rider  will  be  in- 
terested in  studying  this  odd  relationship.  Now  the  stallion — 
and  only  stallions  are  used — "  is  precious  to  the  soul  "  of  the 
ishvoshtnik,  or  is  his  "  tender  dove  "  ;  a  few  moments  later 
he  is  accused  of  being  something  entirely  different,  in  terms 
that  cannot  be  permitted  here  ;  and  the  horse  seems  to  un- 
derstand every  word. 

"  Come,  pretty  pigeon,  let  go  thy  legs.  Go  !  go !  pass 
the  brute  beside  thee,  my  sweetheart ;  let  not  that  worth- 
less wretch  kick  dust  in  thy  eyes^  Go  swiftly,  my  beauty, 
and  thou  shalt  have  more  oats  than  thine  eyes  have  seen  for 
a  month.  Thou  art  lazy  to-day,  thou  son  of  my  heart ;  wilt 
thou  freeze  in  thy  tracks  here,  starveling  ?  Look  out  for 
that  stone  there,  little  father ;  carefully,  carefully ;  this  road 
was  not  made  for  the  Czar.  What  doest  thou  with  thine 
eyes  ?  accursed  thing.  Thy  mother's  colts  ought  not  to  run 
into  holes  like  that  one.  Now  speed  thee,  oh  kitten  !  for  the 
passenger  has  promised  me  a  rouble  if  thou  makest  haste." 

This  sort  of  taunts  and  phrases  are  continually  flung  at 
the  horse,  and  there  is  a  good  deal  of  poetry  and  pathos  in 
the  relationship  between  him  and  his  driver. 

When  the  reins  are  tight  the  horse  goes ;  when  they  are 
relaxed  he  stops.  The  drivers  use  a  queer  sound  made  by 
rolling  the  tongue,  a  sort  of  troll-11-11-11-11-11,  which  means  busi- 
ness. When  the  horse  hears  that  he  pulls  himself  together 
4 


50  RUSSIA : 

and  goes  for  all  he  is  worth.  Droskies  never  go  slowly, 
but  in  the  most  reckless  fashion,  the  drivers  jeering  and 
shouting  at  each  other  as  they  pass,  with  good-humored 
banter,  while  the  pedestrian  takes  the  best  care  of  himself 
he  can.  People  seldom  cross  a  street  at  a  walk,  unless  it  is 
deserted.  They  give  a  look  in  one  direction,  then  in  the 
other,  and  gathering  their  skirts  around  them,  run  for  their 
lives.  Vehicles  always  have  the  right  of  way,  and  it  is  a 
popular  tradition  that  the  hospitals  are  established  solely  for 
the  treatment  of  unfortunates  who  have  been  run  over. 

The  costume  of  the  ishvoshtnik  is  novel  and  peculiar.  He 
wears  either  a  cap  of  blue  cloth,  made  in  the  tam-o-shanter 
style,  with  a  wide  frontpiece  of  stiff  leather  or  a  stiff  silk  hat 
about  half  the  height  of  the  ordinary  "  plug,"  with  a  long 
blue  surtout  that  reaches  to  his  heels,  and  covers  his  high 
top-boots.  Under  that  surtout  or  taftan,  which  is  bound 
around  his  waist  by  a  belt,  are  supposed  to  be  concealed  all 
his  worldly  treasures,  among  which,  from  the  dropsical  ap- 
pearance of  the  subject,  one  can  imagine  are  several  feather 
beds.  His  circumference  is  enormous,  he  fills  up  an  or- 
dinary doorway,  and  when  perched  upon  his  drosky  laps 
over  the  seat  many  inches^on  all  sides.  When  you  attempt  to 
attract  the  driver's  attention  by  poking  him  in  the  back  with 
your  cane  or  umbrella,  you  must  use  considerable  violence, 
for  the  point  will  sink  into  his  wrappings  several  inches 
before  it  reaches  the  sensible  part  of  his  frame. 

Travellers  in  a  province  where  there  are  no  railways 
usually  prefer  to  make  use  of  the  imperial  post  service, 
which  exists  upon  all  the  principal  lines  of  communication, 
and  will  furnish  relays  of  horses  at  intervals  of  twenty  or 
thirty  miles.  In  order  to  obtain  them,  one  must  secure 
from  the  postal  authorities  a  "  Podorozhnaya  " — a  formida- 
ble looking  document,  which  directs  whom  it  may  concern 
to  assist  the  bearer  on  his  way  to  furnish  him  promptly  with 
a  certain  number  of  horses  from  certain  points  to  certain 
points,  for  a  price  which  is  named,  and  must  be  paid  in 
advance  at  the  respective  road-stations.  The  "  Podorozh- 


THE  DROSKY  AND  ITS  DRIVER.  5  ! 

naya  "  costs  a  considerable  sum  itself,  which  is  supposed  to 
be  devoted  to  the  repair  of  the  roads. 

Armed  with  these  credentials  the  traveller  applies  to  the 
nearest  post  station  for  a  postillion,  horses,  and  a  vehicle 
known  as  a  "  tarantas,"  a  sort  of  overgrown  drosky, 
heavily  and  strongly  made,  with  exceedingly  stiff  springs, 
and  a  general  condition  of  discomfort.  Sometimes  the 
horses  are  very  fine  and  fast ;  sometimes  they  are  only 
ordinary:  but  their  appearance  is  no  test  of  their  speed,  for  I 
have  seen  the  most  distressing-looking  brutes  gallop  over 
a  distance  of  twenty  miles  in  two  hours  and  a  half  without 
turning  a  hair.  Usually  they  are  driven  three  abreast,  but 


THE  TARANTAS. 


often,  when  the  passenger  is  in  a  hurry,  or  the  roads  are  bad, 
or  the  distance  is  great,  four  or  even  five  are  harnessed 
abreast.  There  is  no  tongue  or  pole,  but  only  a  pair  of 
thills,  no  matter  how  many  horses.  One  is  hitched  in  the 
thills,  and  does  the  steering.  The  others  are  fastened  to  the 
axle  or  the  whiffletrees,  and  their  heads  are  kept  together  by 
straps.  Very  seldom  do  they  trot,  but  commonly  go  at  a 
gallop,  mile  after  mile. 

In  the  winter  months  travelling  is  always  more  agreeable, 
notwithstanding  the  cold.  The  sledges  are  much  more 
comfortable  than  the  wheeled  vehicles,  and  one  can  sleep  in 
a  nest  of  furs  that  is  provided  for  him.  Passengers  are  often 
frost-bitten,  but  a  Russian  thinks  no  more  of  such  an  accident 


5  2  RUSSIA: 

than  of  a  mosquito  bite.  The  latter  would  probably  annoy 
him  the  more.  He  does  not  go  to  a  fire  to  warm,  when  frost- 
bitten, but  rubs  the  part  with  snow  until  the  friction  thaws  it ; 
and  no  discomfort  follows. 

But  the  natives  of  all  classes  are  capable  of  enduring  an 
almost  incredible  amount  of  heat  and  cold.  They  dress 
warmly  in  furs  and  flannels,  but  even  such  garments  would 
not  reconcile  an  ordinary  man  or  woman  to  a  temperature 
which  sends  the  mercury  down  to  thirty  or  forty  degrees 
below  zero,  day  after  day,  and  week  after  week,  almost 
continually  from  November  till  April.  The  Russian  peasant 
is  frequently  alluded  to  as  a  first  cousin  to  the  polar  bear, 
and  his  habits  and  endurance  seem  to  establish  the  relation- 
ship. He  will  drive  a  sledge  across  the  bleak  plains,  with 
the  wind  blowing  at  the  rate  of  thirty  miles  an  hour,  and  the 
thermometer  frozen,  without  the  slightest  apparent  discom- 
fort ;  and  he  will  sit  on  the  box  of  a  coach  or  a  sledge 
before  the  theatre,  or  a  house  in  which  there  is  a  reception, 
hour  after  hour,  and  chat  sociably  with  his  fellows,  when  the 
mercury  is  down  to  forty  below  zero. 

The  Russian  bath,  as  we  know  it,  cannot  be  had  in  the 
country  from  which  it  gets  its  name.  In  New  York,  one  who 
takes  a  bath  of  this  kind  is  placed  in  a  chest,  with  his 
head  sticking  out  through  the  top,  and  steam  is  turned 
on  his  body  for  awhile  ;  then  he  plunges  into  a  pool  of  cold 
water  and  is  thoroughly  rubbed  by  an  attendant.  Such 
baths  may  be  had  in  Russia,  but  I  could  not  learn  where. 
The  real  Russian  bath — that  which  the  mujik  takes,  and 
from  which  ours  gets  the  name — is  considerably  different. 
The  mujik  crawls  into  the  oven  of  his  stove,  which  is  built 
large  enough  to  accommodate  him,  lies  there  till  he  is  afloat 
in  his  own  perspiration,  and  then  runs  out  naked  into  the 
open  air  and  rolls  in  the  snow. 

This  extraordinary  procedure  is  adopted  as  a  cure  for 
disease,  as  well  as  for  the  purification  of  the  person,  and  is 
said  to  be  effective.  The  upper  classes  have  baths  in  their 
houses  as  we  do,  and  have  physicians  of  great  skill  to  treat 


THE  DROSKY  AND  ITS  DRIVER. 


53 


them  when  they  are  sick ;  but  in  the  rural  districts  there  are 
few  Doctors  of  Medicine,  and  diseases  are  treated — some- 
times cured — and  wounds  are  dressed  either  by  a  "  feld- 
sher  "  or  a  "  znakharka." 

The  former  is  usually  some  old  soldier,  retired  from  the 
army,  crippled  or  disabled  by  disease,  and  has  some  knowl- 
edge of  surgery  which  he  learned  in  the  barracks  or  the  hos- 
pitals. He  can  set  a  limb  with  some  skill,  is  familiar  with 
the  standard  remedies  for  fevers  and  other  common  ailments, 
and  understands  the  uses  of  ordinary  physic. 

The  znakharka  is  a  midwife,  a  fortune-teller,  a  village 
gossip,  a  dealer  in  herbs,  an  interpreter  of  dreams  and 
signs  and  omens,  a  manipulator  of  charms  and  amulets,  a 
sorceress  who  exorcises  evil  spirits,  and  a  witch  who  prac- 
tises all  forms  of  demonomy.  She  usually  treats  the  wom- 
en and  children,  while  the  feldsher  treats  the  men.  In 
addition  to  the  exercise  of  sorcery  and  the  practice  of  the 
healing  arts,  she  is  also  useful  in  negotiating  marriages 
among  the  peasants.  In  her  capacity  of  confidential  friend 
and  gossip,  she  knows  what  hearts  are  loose,  and  may  be 
tied  together.  If  a  maiden  loves  a  young  mujik,  she  confides 
in  the  znakharka,  who  endeavors  to  bring  them  together; 
and  the  young  mujiks  often  seek  her  mediation  when 
the  maidens  of  the  village  are  indifferent  to  their  attentions. 


54 


RUSSIA  : 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  TREASURES  OF  THE  HERMITAGE. 

Something  about  Catherine  the  Great,  the  Cleopatra  of  the  North. — 
Her  Rules  of  Etiquette. — Precious  Relics  of  Peter  the  Great. — The 
Largest  Collections  of  Coins  and  Gems  in  the  World. — The  Alexan- 
der Column  and  other  Monuments  of  Petersburg. 

ON  one  side  of  the  Winter  Palace  at  Petersburg  is  the  Neva 
river,  so  close  that  you  could  throw  a  stone  from  any  of  the 
windows  into  the  water,  and  on  the  other  side  a  semicircle 
of  vast  and  ugly  rococo  palaces,  surrounding  an  enormous 
parade  ground,  in  which  fifty  thousand  troops  have  been 
manoeuvred  and  inspected  at  one  time.  The  palaces  are  im- 
posing only  because  of  their  immensity,  there  being  a  dozen 
or  more  of  them  with  several  hundred  rooms  each,  all  built 
by  the  czars  at  one  time  or  another,  for  themselves  or  their 
poor  relations,  and  now  occupied  by  government  offices  or 
for  the  quarters  of  troops.  The  city  is  reached  through  an 
enormous  arch,  similar  to  the  Arc  de  Triomphe  in  Paris, 
although  not  so  large,  and  surmounted  with  a  bronze  chariot 
and  a  lot  of  prancing  chargers — a  favorite  model  in  all  the 
capitals  of  Europe. 

It  was  to  this  parade  ground  that  the  great  Catherine 
came  from  the  Winter  Palace,  when  she  led  the  revolution 
against  her  husband,  and  sword  in  hand,,  straddling  her 
horse  like  a  man,  demanded  the  allegiance  and  support  of 
the  army. 

Catherine  was  one  of  the  vainest,  most  extravagant,  most 
licentious  of  women.  She  had  forty  lovers  with  whom  she 
lived  as  publicly  as  if  the  relations  had  been  sanctioned  by 
marriage,  had  children  by  seventeen  of  them,  as  she  herself 
claimed,  and  founded  an  order  of  nobility  for  the  classifica- 


THE   TREASURES  OF  THE  HERMITAGE. 


55 


tion  of  her  illegitimate  heirs  and  their  posterity,  of  whom 
she  was  very  proud.  It  is  said  that  she  built  at  government 
expense  and  gave  to  her  favorites  more  than  a  dozen  pal- 
aces, and  distributed  among  them  ninety-two  million  roubles 
of  public  funds.  When  one  of  her  paramours  died,  as  was 
several  times  the  case,  she  went  into  mourning  for  him,  arid 
gave  a  handsome  present  of  money  to  the  bereaved  lawful 
widow,  if  there  was  one.  She  was  a  mixture  of  Cleopatra, 
Lucretia  Borgia,  Marie  Theresa,  Queen  Elizabeth,  and 


THE   FIRST   OF  THE   ROMANOFFS. 

Madame  Pompadour.  If  one  of  her  favorites  would  not  pro- 
vide for  his  family,  she  would  renounce  him  and  send 
him  to  prison.  If  he  paid  more  attention  to  his  own  wife 
than  to  her,  she  would  treat  him  in  a  similar  manner. 

Full  of  whims,  of  good-humor,  candor,  courage,  vanity,  and 
ambition,  brainy  and  muscular,  she  had  no  general  who 
better  understood  the  science  of  war,  or  could  lead  an  army 
in  battle  with  greater  personal  courage  ;  nor  had  she  a 
statesman  in  her  cabinet  or  a  diplomatist  in  her  service  who 
could  match  her  in  craft  and  political  wisdom.  There  was 


56  RUSSIA  : 

no  philosopher  in  Europe  with  whom  she  could  not  converse 
on  the  profoundest  questions  as  an  equal,  or  whose  epi- 
grams she  could  not  surpass.  In  the  Kremlin  at  Moscow 
is  the  skin  of  the  horse  she  rode  astride.  Her  sword  is  there, 
— as  heavy  as  a  strong  man  would  care  to  handle, — and  her 
revolvers,  with  which  she  killed  a  number  of  enemies  and 
mutinous  subjects  ;  also  her  uniform,  of  the  most  gorgeous 
fabrics,  set  with  priceless  jewels,  her  tent,  made  of  the  furs  of 
wild  beasts,  and  her  camp-bedstead  of  iron,  in  which  she 
many  a  time  slept  for  weeks  together  in  the  snows  of  the 
steppes  :  while  in  the  Imperial  Library  at  Petersburg  are 
her  state  papers,  her  poems  and  satires,  with  which  in  hours 
of  peace  she  used  to  amuse  herself  and  entertain  her  court. 
There  have  been  wickeder  women  than  Catherine,  but  few  ; 
there  have  been  wiser  women,  but  few ;  and  there  may  have 
been  greater  women,  but  history  conceals  their  names. 

She  was  the  only  foreigner  who  ever  ruled  over  the  Rus- 
sian race,  being  the  Princess  Sophia  Augusta  of  Anhalt- 
Zerbst,  married  and  brought  to  Russia  by  Peter  III.,  the  son 
of  the  Empress  Elizabeth,  and  grandson  of  Peter  the  Great. 
He  was  a  poor  weakling,  whom  his  wife  could  not  tolerate, 
so  after  a  honeymoon  of  eight  months,  she  headed  a  revo- 
lution against  her  own  husband,  and  had  him  strangled  by 
tow  of  her  favorites,  Count  Orloff  of  diamond  fame,  and 
General  Bariatinski.  Then,  with  grim  humor,  she  forced 
the  assassins  to  walk  each  side  of  the  coffin  that  enclosed 
his  remains,  and  carry  the  pall.  Orloff  was  perfectly  com- 
posed during  the  entire  ordeal,  but  the  other  man  fainted 
repeatedly  and  had  to  be  carried  away.  Catherine  sent  him 
into  exile  for  his  cowardice,  and  it  was  only  when  he  made 
his  confession  at  death  that  the  manner  of  the  murder  of 
Peter  was  known. 

Catherine  reigned  for  thirty-four  years,  and  the  epoch 
in  the  history  of  the  empire  in  which  she  is  the  chief 
figure,  was  the  most  prosperous  it  has  ever  known.  She 
achieved  victories  over  the  Turks  and  Tartars,  added  many 
thousand  square  leagues  to  the  area  of  her  dominions,  and 


THE  TREASVKES  OF  THE  HERMITAGE. 


57 


did  much  to  improve  the  condition  of  the  people.  She  wrote 
books  of  stories  for  children,  some  of  which  are  still  in  use, 
founded  hospitals  and  asylums  for  unfortunates  of  all  sorts ; 
erected  fortresses  which  she  herself  designed  ;  established 
public  libraries,  and  did  much  to  elevate  the  taste  of  the 
people  in  literature  and  art,  besides  carrying  on  wars  and 
amours.  In  her  reign  Russia  reached  its  golden  age,  the 
nobles  were  rich,  and  their  queen  set  them  an  example  in 
extravagance  which  they  did  their  best  to  follow. 


threat  as  a  I 


The  Hermitage,  as  it  is  called,  although  the  name  is  a 
misnomer,  was  the  palace  of  Catherine  ;  at  least  it  was  her 
favorite  place  of  residence  in  Petersburg  :  but  she  had  a  dozen 
other  palaces  scattered  about.  It  adjoins  the  Winter  Palace, 
being  connected  to  that  building  by  corridors ;  and  is  by  far 
the  handsomest  piece  of  architecture  in  the  capital  except  the 
Cathedral  of  St.  Isaac's.  It  is  one  of  the  few  structures  of 
stone,  is  beautifully  carved  externally,  and  internally  fin- 
ished with  great  extravagance  and  better  taste  than  most  of 
the  Russian  palaces.  Catherine  called  it  "  The  Hermitage," 
for  it  was  here  that  she  used  to  retire  from  the  cares  of  state, 


eg  RUSSIA: 

and  give  herself  up  to  ease  and  pleasure.  Here  she  enter- 
tained the  greatest  men  in  Europe — poets,  philosophers, 
travellers,  and  statesmen  ;  gave  informal  dinner  parties,  and 
balls,  not  as  an  empress,  but  as  a  society  queen  ;  here  she 
had  a  little  theatre  in  which  were  given  plays  of  her  own 
composition,  acted  by  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  of  her 
court ;  poets  came  here  to  read  their  verses,  artists  to  show 
their  paintings ;  and  if  the  walls  of  the  beautiful  structure 
could  talk,  they  might  tell  tales  that  would  shock  the 
moral  nerves  of  the  universe,  for  Catherine  never  did  things 
by  halves.  The  Hermitage  was  to  her  what  Sans  Souci  was 
to  Frederick  the  Great,  and  the  Palace  of  the  Trianon  to 
the  Louis  of  France. 

In  the  antechamber  adjoining  her  great  drawing-room 
there  hangs  a  little  frame,  enclosing  a  list  of  rules  to  be 
observed  by  all  who  entered  the  Hermitage,  written  in 
Catherine's  own  hand,  of  which  the  following  is  a  transla- 
tion : — 

I.  Leave  your    rank  outside,  as  well  as  your  hat,  and 
especially  your  sword. 

II.  Leave  your  right  of  precedence,  your  pride,  and  any 
similar  feeling  outside  the  door. 

III.  Be  gay,  but  do  not  spoil    anything.     Do  not   break 
or  gnaw  anything. 

IV.  Sit,  stand,  walk,  as  you  will,  without  reference  to  any- 
body. 

V.  Talk  merrily,  but  not  very  loud,  so  as  not   to  make 
the  head  of  anybody  ache. 

VI.  Argue  without  anger  and  without  excitement. 
VII.  Neither  sigh  nor  yawn,  nor  make   anybody  dull  or 
heavy. 

VIII.  In  all  innocent  games,  in  whatever  one  proposes,  let 
all  engage. 

IX.  Eat  whatever  is  sweet  and  savory,  and  drink  with 
moderation,  so  that  each  can  find  his  legs  on  leaving  the 
room. 


THE  TREASURES  OF  THE  HERMITAGE. 


59 


X.  Tell  no  tales  out  of  school.  Whatever  goes  in  at  one 
ear  must  go  out  at  the  other  before  leaving  the  room. 

Whoever  broke  one  of  these  rules,  on  the  testimony  of  two 
witnesses,  had  to  drink  a  glass  of  cold  water,  and  read  a 
page  of  the  Telemachiade,  a  much-ridiculed  Russian  poem. 
Whoever  broke  three  of  the  rules  the  same  evening  had  to 
commit  six  pages  of  the  book.  Whoever  broke  the  tenth 
rule  could  never  again  be  admitted  to  the  Hermitage. 

The  Hermitage  is  now  the  principal  museum  of  Peters- 
burg, what  the  Louvre  is  to  Paris  and  the  British  Museum 
to  London ;  and  if  it  had  been  constructed  for  such  a  pur- 
pose it  could  not  be  better  adapted  for  the  display  of  the 
treasures  of  art  and  antiquity  that  have  been  collected 
by  the  later  sovereigns  of  Russia  around  the  magnificent 
nucleus  which  Catherine  left.  The  Museum  building  is  a 
parallelogram,  550  by  375  feet,  enclosing  two  large  courts, 
which  Catherine  had  arranged  so  that  they  could  be 
flooded  for  skating-parks  in  winter  and  gardens  of  luxurious- 
foliage  in  summer.  The  entrance  is  a  noble  vestibule,  sup- 
ported by  ten  massive  caryatides,  in  Finland  granite.  The 
main  hall  is  supported  by  sixteen  splendid  monoliths  of 
granite,  terminating  in  capitals  of  Carrara  marble  carved  in 
Florence ;  while  the  grand  stairway,  in  three  large  flights,  is 
hewn  from  great  blocks  of  the  same  marble,  which  cause 
every  one  who  sees  them  to  wonder  how  they  could  have 
been  brought  from  Italy  before  the  days  of  railroads. 

The  rooms  on  the  ground-floor  are  filled  with  the  choicest 
collection  of  antiquities  outside  the  British  Museum,  includ- 
ing two  examples  of  incomparable  value,  the  silver  vase  of 
Nichopol,  and  the  golden  vase  of  Kertch,  both  of  which,  like 
many  other  pieces  in  the  collection,  are  well  known  to  every 
antiquarian  in  the  world,  and  have  been  the  subjects  of  no 
end  of  scientific  discussion.  The  upper  rooms  are  finished 
with  the  most  beautiful  and  costly  materials,  and  are  full  of 
pictures.  The  hideous  Siberian  malachite  appears  in  evesy 
conceivabte  form,  in  pillars,  mantels,  wainscoting,  and  even 
floors ;  while  vases,  urns,  and  other  ornaments  of  the  stone 


60  RUSSIA : 

are  very  numerous.  There  is  a  lavish  use  of  lapis-lazuli 
also,  and  jasper  enough  to  build  a  cathedral.  Many  of  the 
paintings  are  very  rare,  and  the  collection  contains  examples 
of  all  the  famous  old  masters,  each  having  his  room. 

One  of  the  longest  galleries  is  devoted  to  relics  of  Peter 
the  Great,  illustrating  the  life  and  industrial  activity  of  this 
remarkable  man.  Here  are  the  lathes  and  instruments  of 
carving  he  used,  his  carpenter's  tools,  his  telescopes,  which 
he  made  himself,  and  various  mathematical  and  astronomical 
apparatus,  which  were  constructed  by  his  own  hands,  either 
from  models  he  had  seen  in  England  or  Holland,  or  on 
original  designs.  Numerous  specimens  of  his  handicraft  are 
scattered  about  the  room — some  beautiful  desks,  sideboards, 
cabinets,  and  tables,  heavily  and  handsomely  carved  ;  and  the 
tools  with  which  he  did  the  work  are  beside  them.  Here 
also  are  his  canes  and  swords,  many  of  them  loaded  with 
jewels ;  but  the  most  interesting  of  all  is  the  staff  of  solid 
iron  which  he  used  to  carry  when  he  went  about  the  city 
alone  at  night,  and  with  which  tradition  says  he  beat  to 
death  many  poor  subjects  who  offended  him. 

A  list  of  the  relics  of  Peter  in  this  room  and  the  galleries 
adjoining  would  fill  several  columns.  Passing  into  the  next 
gallery  one  finds  a  chaos  of  gems  in  all  sorts  of  forms  and 
settings,  signifying  the  luxurious  splendor  of  the  Russian 
courts  in  the  past — ornaments  for  the  persons  of  the  sovereigns 
and  their  nobles,  snuff-boxes  that  are  worth  thousands  of 
dollars,  fans  that  even  surpass  them  in  value,  a  perfect  wil- 
derness of  diamonds,  rubies,  emeralds,  and  precious  stones 
of  every  sort  that  the  world  values,  set  in  various  forms  for 
various  uses.  Most  of  these  were  gifts  to  Peter  the  Great, 
Catherine,  and  other  rulers  ;  for  although  Peter  was  most 
abstemious  in  his  personal  habits,  and  never  wore  any  per- 
sonal decorations,  he  was  quite  as  fond  of  receiving  presents 
as  Catherine,  and  many  of  the  first  families  of  Russia  impov- 
erished themselves  that  they  might  win  the  favor  of  the 
monarch.  The  results  are  here.  The  relics*of  Prince 
Potemkin,  the  most  famous  of  Catherine's  lovers,  and  on 


THE  TREASURES  OF  THE  HERMITAGE.  6 1 

whom  she  showered  treasures,  fill  a  large  case,  and  are 
valued  at  several  million  roubles.  They  include  many  rare 
and  curious  articles  of  adornment,  and  a  volume  of  bank- 
notes of  different  nations  bound  up  as  curiosities,  represent- 
ing in  themselves  a  considerable  fortune.  When  Potemkin 
had  exhausted  human  ingenuity  in  his  gifts  to  Catherine  he 
gave  her  this. 

In  another  gallery  is  the  largest  and  most  valuable  collec- 
tion of  coins  in  the  world,  comprising  over  two  hundred 
thousand  specimens,  and  containing  every  piece  known  to 
numismatics.  Still  farther  on  is  the  largest  collection  of 
gems  in  existence,  commenced  by  Peter  the  Great, — who  had 
a  passion  for  gems,  although  he  never  wore  them, — and 
increased  from  time  to  time  by  purchases  made  by  his  suc- 
cessors. The  most  conspicuous  portion  of  the  collection 
was  purchased  from  the  heirs  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans, 
"  Philippe  Egalite,"  the  most  renowned  collector  of  jewels  in 
history. 

Like  the  British  Museum  and  the  Louvre*  in  Paris,  it 
requires  several  weeks  to  see  the  treasures  of  the  Hermitage  ; 
and  to  describe  or  even  to  name  them  all  would  fill  a  vol- 
ume. The  catalogue  is  a  book  of  several  hundred  pages. 

Contiguous  to  the  Hermitage  are  the  barracks  of  the  Regi- 
ment of  the  Transfiguration,  a  sort  of  praetorian  guard,  of 
which  the  Czar  is  always  the  colonel,  composed  of  picked 
men  of  large  stature,  who  have  the  privilege  of  entering  the 
Winter  Palace  or  the  Hermitage  at  any  time,  and  can  be 
summoned  by  the  Emperor  by  a  signal  from  his  private 
rooms  whenever  their  presence  is  necessary. 

A  little  to  the  north  of  the  Hermitage,  in  the  centre  of  the 
great  parade  ground  I  have  described,  stands  one  of  the 
"  lions  "  of  Petersburg,  the  largest  monolith  in  the  world. 
It  is  a  column  erected  in  1832,  by  the  last  Czar,  in  honor  of 
his  father,  Alexander  L,  a  single  shaft  of  red  granite  from 
Finland,  which,  exclusive  of  pedestal  and  capital,  rises  84 
feet.  It  originally  reached  to  the  height  of  102  feet,  but 
had  to  be  cut  down,  as  the  base  and  diameter  were  too  small 


62  RUSSIA : 

to  sustain  it,  and  it  was  in  danger  of  falling.  The  pedestal 
is  a  single  block  of  granite,  weighing  400  tons,  and  highly 
polished.  The  capital  is  made  from  cannon  captured  in 
Alexander's  wars  with  the  Turks,  and  on  the  summit  is  an 
angel  of  bronze,  14  feet  high,  holding  aloft  a  cross  that  is 
seven  feet  in  length,  but  looks  like  a  toy  at  its  elevation  of 
155  feet  from  the  ground.  The  column  was  quarried  in 
Finland,  and  brought  to  Petersburg  on  sledges  one  winter, 


THE    MILLENIAL   MONUMENT. 


being  drawn  by  several  hundred  horses.  It  was  raised  in 
its  rough  state,  and  dressed  and  polished  as  it  stands.  The 
inscription  on  the  pedestal  is  simply  this  :  — 

"  To  ALEXANDER  I.     GRATEFUL  RUSSIA." 

There  are  many  other  monuments  in  Petersburg,  some  of 
which  are  very  fine,  and  another  quite  as  remarkable  in  its 
way  as  the  Alexander  column.  Peter  the  Great  once  stood 
upon  a  rock  on  the  shore  of  the  Gulf  of  Finland  and  wit- 


THE  TREASURES  OF  THE  HERMITAGE.  63 

nessed  a  victory  by  his  infant  fleet  over  a  superior  force  of 
Swedes.  This  huge  block  of  granite  was  forty-two  feet  long, 
thirty-four  feet  broad,  and  twenty-one  feet  high,  and  it  was 
found  by  a  geometrical  calculation  that  the  mass  weighed 
3,200,000  pounds.  To  remove  it  to  the  capital  a  solid  road- 
bed was  first  built,  and  then,  after  four  months  of  hard  labor, 
under  the  direction  of  skilful  engineers,  the  rock  was  raised 
so  that  heavy  plates  of  brass  could  be  placed  under  it. 
These  plates  rested  upon  hundreds  of  cannon  balls,  five 
inches  in  diameter,  and  they  ran  in  grooves  in  other  plates 
of  metal  which  were  laid  upon  the  road.  Then,  by  the  use  of 
windlasses,  worked  by  a  force  of  fourteen  hundred  men,  the 
rock  was  slowly  moved  toward  Petersburg.  When  the  bank 
of  the  river  Neva  was  reached,  the  rock  was  placed  upon  an 
enormous  raft  buoyed  up  by  air  chambers,  and  floated  down 
to  the  city.  The  removal  required  seven  months  of  labor  to 
accomplish.  The  rock  was  placed  in  a  park  in  front  of  the 
palace  of  the  Holy  Synod,  and  upon  it  was  erected  an  eques- 
trian statue  of  Peter,  modelled  and  cast  by  a  Frenchman, 
Etienne  Maurice  Falconet.  The  emperor  is  represented  as 
checking  his  fiery  horse  on  the  edge  of  the  rock,  and  point- 
ing over  the  bay  to  the  battle  ;  while  under  the  feet  of  the 
charger  is  an  enormous  serpent,  supposed  to  be  emblematical 
of  the  difficulties  and  dangers  he  had  surmounted.  The 
statue  is  balanced  on  the  hind  legs  of  the  horse  and  the  coils 
of  the  serpent,  and  is  considered  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
pieces  of  bronze  art  in  existence. 

Another  fine  monument,  and  rather  a  curious  one,  is  that 
of  Catherine  the  Great,  which  stands  in  front  of  the  Imperial 
theatre.  It  is  a  handsome  bronze  figure  of  heroic  size,  upon 
a  granite  pedestal  which  is  covered  with  smaller  figures  rep- 
resenting the  most  famous  of  this  singular  woman's  lovers. 


64  RUSSIA: 


CHAPTER  VII. 

MEMENTOS   OF   PETER   THE   GREAT. 

How  he  Gained  the  Throne  to  which  he  had  no  Legal  Claim,  and  how 
he  Governed. — Some  of  the  Great  Czar's  Oddities. — The  Cottage 
which  he  Built  with  his  own  Hands  and  in  which  he  Lived  for  Nine 
Years.— Three  Historic  Boats.— The  Tombs  of  the  Czars. 

ONE  cannot  look  in  any  direction  in  Petersburg  with- 
out seeing  a  monument  or  memento  of  Peter  the  Great, 
Some  writer  has  said  that  he  was  the  mighty  hammer  of 
which  Russia  was  the  anvil,  and  the  capital  of  the  empire  is 
the  greatest  result  he  produced.  The  veneration  of  all 
classes  for  him  amounts  to  idolatry,  and  every  article  he 
touched  or  used  or  produced,  every  dish  that  served  upon 
his  table,  every  ring  he  wore,  is  cherished  and  worshipped 
as  devoutly  as  the  nails  from  the  True  Cross  they  have  in 
the  churches,  the  drop  of  the  Saviour's  blood  that  is  kept 
in  the  Kremlin  at  Moscow,  the  joints  and  saddles  of  the 
martyrs,  or  the  robe  that  John  the  Baptist  wore  when  he  was 
preaching  the  coming  of  Christ  in  the  wilderness. 

The  Russians  will  canonize  Peter  yet,  although  the  readers 
of  Mr.  Schuyler's  admirable  biography  of  the  great  Czar 
will  be  puzzled  to  discover  any  saintly  qualities  in  his  char- 
acter. That  he  was  the  greatest,  most  progressive  and 
enterprising  man  Russia  has  ever  seen,  is  not  to  be  denied  ; 
but  his  vices  were  as  conspicuous  as  his  talents.  Peter  was 
not  the  hereditary  heir  to  the  throne.  His  mother  was  the 
second  wife  of  the  Czar  Alexis,  whose  son  by  his  first  wife 
should  have  inherited  the  power,  but  was  unpopular  with  the 
Streltsi,  a  powerful  corps  of  the  army,  who  captured  the 
Kremlin,  and  insisted  that  little  Peter,  then  only  six  years 
old,  should  share  the  sceptre  with  his  half-brother.  The  two 


MEMENTOS  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT.  gj 

boys  were  therefore  crowned  together,  during  a  reign  of 
terror  in  Moscow,  and  their  sister,  the  famous  Sophia,  a  very 
remarkable  woman,  was  for  years  the  actual  sovereign.  She 
was  the  power  behind  the  throne  on  which  the  children  sat, 
until  she  had  a  quarrel  with  the  insubordinate  Peter,  who 
fled  to  the  convent  in  which  his  mother  had  found  refuge. 
There  Peter  was  educated;  and  shortly  before  he  was  seven- 
teen he  returned  to  Moscow  at  the  head  of  an  army  com- 
posed of  all  the  disaffected  soldiers  and  politicians  in  the 
empire,  compelled  his  brother  Ivan  to  abdicate  his  share  of 


PETER'S  PEASANT  WIFE. 

the  government,  and  drove  Sophia  to  Poland  in  exile,  where 
she  finished  her  days,  for  Peter  never  forgave  her.  Before 
he  was  of  age  he  showed  great  military  and  executive  talent, 
and  developed  the  ambition  that  was  the  crowning  motive  of 
his  life,  to  extend  his  dominions. 

He  married,  when  he  was  seventeen  years  old,  the  daugh- 
ter of  a  rich  boyar  named  Eudoxia,  and  by  her   had   a  son 
when  he  was  nineteen.     He  founded  St.  Petersburg  when  he 
was  but  thirty,  in  the  meantime  having  visited  England,  and 
5 


66  RUSSIA: 

worked  for  several  months  as  a  common  carpenter  in  a  ship- 
yard at  Zaandam,  Holland.  On  his  return  he  quarrelled 
with  his  wife,  and  shut  her  up  in  a  convent  during  the  rest  of 
her  life,  the  cause  of  the  trouble  being  a  common  German 
woman  named  Mons,  who  soon  after  proved  unfaithful  to 
Peter,  and  was  discarded  by  him. 

He  next  took  to  his  imperial  bed  and  board  a  Swedish 
peasant  girl  of  great  beauty  who  had  been  brought  back 
from  Sweden  as  spoil  of  war  by  one  of  his  generals.  She, 
however,  developed  into  a  woman  of  great  tact,  and  although 
she  could  never  read  nor  write,  proved  an  admirable  help- 
meet to  Peter,  and  was  the  only  person  who  ever  success- 
fully opposed  his  imperious  will.  She  fell  from  grace  once, 
but  was  forgiven ;  while  her  paramour,  the  Grand  Chamber- 
lain of  the  palace,  was  beheaded  as  an  example  to  others 
who  coveted  the  Czar's  wife.  This  woman  Catherine  was 
formally  married  to  Peter  after  she  had  lived  with  him  twelve 
years,  and  her  two  illegitimate  daughters  acted  as  brides- 
maids, while  Peter's  only  legitimate  son  was  his  father's 
groomsman.  She  was  then  crowned  Empress  Catherine  I., 
and  after  the  death  of  Peter  reigned  for  a  while,  during  the 
minority  of  her  son,  Peter  II. 

Peter  made  an  extended  tour  through  Europe  in  1719,  was 
nobly  received  at  all  the  courts  where  his  fame  had  preceded 
him,  and  brought  back  many  new  ideas  of  civilization  which 
were  adopted  for  the  benefit  of  his  people.  Peter's  great 
disappointment  was  the  behavior  of  his  only  son  by  his  first 
wife,  Alexis,  who  took  no  interest  in  either  civil  or  military 
affairs,  but  spent  his  time  carousing  with  low  companions, 
and,  deserting  his  own  wife,  a  German  princess,  took  up 
with  a  low  Finnish  woman.  After  a  quarrel  with  his  father, 
Alexis  renounced  his  claims  to  the  throne,  and  fled  from  the 
country  ;  but  was  afterward  induced  to  return,  and  was  then 
thrown  into  prison  on  a  charge  of  conspiracy,  his  accuser 
being  the  Finnish  mistress  whom  he  had  discarded.  He 
was  imprisoned  in  the  fortress  of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul,  was 
tried,  or  rather  had  his  case  investigated,  by  a  military  com- 


MEMENTOS  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT.  £7 

mission,  who  reported  him  guilty,  and  left  his  punishment  to 
be  determined  by  his  imperial  father. 

Peter  visited  the  cell  of  his  son  shortly  after  receiving  the 
report  of  the  commission,  and  that  afternoon  the  boy  died 
under  most  mysterious  circumstances.  His  fate  was  a  topic 
the  people  were  not  willing  to  discuss  freely,  and  there  are 
various  explanations  ;  some  said  he  was  beaten  to  death 
with  the  iron  cane  the  Czar  used  to  carry,  or  strangled  by 
the  hands  of  his  father,  or  killed  on  the  rack  Peter  used  to 
torture  the  secret  of  his  conspiracy  from  him ;  but  the  theory 


THE  FIRST   OF    THE  ROMANOFFS. 

advanced  by  loyal  Russian  historians  was,  that,  overcome  by 
shame  and  remorse,  he  died  in  a  fit  of  apoplexy. 

Peter  had  a  great  mind,  a  great  body,  a  will  that  was  resist- 
less, an  energy  that  overcame  all  obstacles,  ambition  that  was 
boundless,  the  most  inordinate  vanity,  and  believed  himself 
designed  by  the  Almighty  to  erect  in  Russia  the  greatest  polit- 
ical power  of  the  earth.  At  the  same  time  he  was  possessed 
of  the  most  childish  and  unaccountable  whims.  For  example, 
he  was  seized  with  the  notion  of  having  all  his  subjects  go  about 


58  RUSSIA : 

with  shaven  faces,  although  it  was  a  tenet  of  the  Greek  relig- 
ion that  all  men  should  wear  beards.  On  this  point,  how- 
ever, for  once  in  his  life  he  was  compelled  to  yield,  as  the 
church  and  the  people  rebelled  against  his  decree,  as  requir- 
ing them  "  to  deface  the  image  of  God,"  so  he  compromised 
by  making  all  who  desired  to  wear  beards  purchase  for  fifty 
roubles  a  license  to  do  so,  and  wear  a  copper  medal  around 
their  necks  to  indicate  that  they  had  such  a  license.  He 
was  a  man  of  heroic  stature,  as  is  shown  by  the  clothes  pre- 
served in  the  museums ;  of  enormous  physical  strength, 
which  is  demonstrated  by  the  staff  he  carried ;  of  incredible 
physical  endurance  ;  of  great  mechanical  ingenuity  and  skill ; 
of  unusual  military  talent,  for  he  was  the  greatest  soldier  of 
his  age.  He  was  a  carpenter,  a  ship-builder,  a  wood  and 
ivory  carver,  a  worker  in  all  sorts  of  metals,  an  artistic 
draughtsman,  a  designer  of  great  taste,  and  altogether  as 
great  a  genius  as  history  tells  us  of.  It  is  said  he  was  an 
accomplished  artisan  in  fourteen  trades. 

In  the  fortress  of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul,  on  an  island  in  the 
Neva,  commanding  the  approach  to  the  city  of  Petersburg, 
is  a  church  which  he  designed  and  erected  as  a  mausoleum 
for  the  burial  of  himself  and  his  successors.  There  be  des- 
ignated and  marked  out  the  place  for  his  own  grave,  and 
designed  his  own  tomb,  a  plain  box  of  white  marble  which 
has  been  imitated  for  the  burial  of  all  the  sovereigns  since. 
The  church  is  always  open,  protected  by  a  guard  of  soldiers, 
although  the  remainder  of  the  fortress  is  not  to  be  inspected, 
as  political  prisoners  are  confined  there.  Its  spire,  a  slender, 
gilded  needle,  rises  to  a  height  of  340  feet,  and  is  one  of  the 
most  conspicuous  objects  in  Petersburg,  the  wonder  being 
how  it  could  be  made  so  long  and  so  slender.  On  one  occa- 
sion the  metal  angel  at  the  top  of  the  golden  needle  needed 
repair,  and  a  sailor  climbed  it  hand  over  hand  as  he  would  go 
up  a  mast  or  telegraph  pole,  carrying  a  rope  with  him  by 
means  of  which  the  men  and  materials  for  the  repairs  were 
enabled  to  reach  the  top.  It  is  one  of  the  tallest  and 
undoubtedly  the  slenderest  spire  in  the  world,  and  the  thick 


MEMENTOS  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT. 


69 


gold-leaf  with  which  it  is  overlaid  is  worth  an  enormous  sum 
of  money. 

It  is  a  Russian  custom  to  have  every  new-born  child  care- 
fully measured,  and  over  the  grave  of  Peter  stands  the  mar- 
ble image  of  an  infant,  exactly  the  size  he  was  when  he  was 
born.  There  are  also  other  interesting  relics  of  him  in  the 
church.  Resting  beside  him  is  the  body  of  the  Swedish 
peasant  girl  who  became  the  Empress  of  all  the  Russias — 
Catherine  I. ;  and  next,  her  handsome  and  amorous  daughter, 
Elizabeth,  who  finally  succeeded  to  the  throne,  and  led  a 
life  of  the  most  shameless  profligacy,  having  inherited  all 
the  passions  of  her  parents.  She  never 
married,  but  lived  openly  with  her  lovers, 
and  cut  out  the  tongues  of  people  who 
talked  about  it.  She  was  in  other  re- 
spects a  woman  of  good  deeds,  and  did 
much  to  carry  out  the  designs  of  her 
father  for  the  extension  and  embellish- 
ment of  Petersburg. 

Next  comes  the  grave  of  the  Empress 
Anna,  a  niece  of  Peter,  who  succeeded 
Elizabeth,  and  like  her  was  a  woman  of 

KMPRPSS  ANNA 

strange  disposition.  She  never  married, 
but  lived  with  a  man  named  Biren,  a  Frenchman,  who  gov- 
erned the  empire  during  the  time  she  was  on  the  throne. 
Near  her  lies  Peter  III.,  the  weak  and  depraved  husband  of 
Catherine,  who  was  strangled  by  her  lovers,  and  beside  him 
the  remains  of  the  great  woman  whom  he  elevated  to  the 
throne,  and  for  whom  he  was  murdered.  Next  come  the 
tombs  of  the  Emperor  Paul  and  his  family.  He  too  was 
assassinated,  and  I  will  give  the  story  elsewhere.  His  widow, 
Marie,  was  one  of  the  best  of  the  Russian  sovereigns,  had  a 
most  charitable  disposition,  and  did'  much  to  ameliorate  the 
condition  of  her  subjects  by  establishing  hospitals,  asylums, 
and  schools.  The  next  tomb  is  that  of  Alexander  I.,  the  son 
of  Paul  and  Marie,  and  the  grandson  of  the  great  Catherine. 
Russia  prospered  and  progressed  during  his  reign,  and  it 


"0  RUSSIA: 

was  he  who  fought  Napoleon.  His  wife  and  children  lie 
beside  him ;  and  next  him  are  the  remains  of  Nicholas,  his 
younger  brother,  and  successor  on  the  throne. 

In  the  same  aisle  are  the  remains  of  the  late  Czar,  assas- 
sinated in  1881,  whose  death  robbed  Russia  of  the  best  ruler 
she  ever  had,  and  the  peasants  of  their  wisest  and  most  sym- 
pathetic master.  He  was  enabled,  under  the  Providence  of 
God,  to  confer  the  blessing  of  liberty  upon  the  fifty  million 
serfs,  and  benefit  a  greater  number  of  the  human  race  by  a 
single  act  than  any  man  who  has  lived  since  the  crucifixion ; 
yet  none  could  meet  with  a  more  frightful  end.  The  sym- 
pathy and  grief  of  all  Christendom,  as  well  as  that  of  his 
own  subjects,  followed  his  mutilated  body  to  the  grave ;  and 
he  will  live  in  history  as  the  noblest  and  the  wisest  of  the 
Czars.  His  simple  marble  sarcophagus  is  inscribed  with 
these  words  alone  :  "  His  Imperial  Majesty,  Alexander  II." 

In  a  little  building  within  the  fortress  is  an  historical  boat 
known  as  "the  Little  Grandsire,"  and  always  referred  to 
officially  as  "the  Grandfather  of  the  Russian  Navy."  It  is 
said  by  some  writers  to  have  been  sent  to  Ivan  the  Terrible 
as  a  present  from  Queen  Elizabeth  of  England,  while  others 
hold  to  a  tradition  that  it  was  built  by  the  Czar  Alexis. 
The  origin  of  the  boat  is  of  little  importance,  but  its  conse- 
quences are  far  reaching,  and  its  influence  is  seen  in  the 
great  navy  yard  that  stands  across  the  Neva  within  sight, 
and  the  enormous  steel  cruisers  moored  in  the  stream.  It 
was  the  first  boat  Peter  the  Great  ever  saw,  and  inspired 
him  with  a  taste  for  ship-building.  It  was  the  cause  of  his 
going  to  Holland  to  learn  the  trade,  and  from  the  seed  thus 
sown  grew  the  Russian  navy.  It  is  a  clumsy  affair  about 
thirty  feet  long,  with  three  masts.  In  the  stern  is  a  rude 
image  of  wood,  representing  a  priest  stretching  out  his  arms 
in  the  attitude  of  blessing  the  waters,  a  ceremony  of  great 
moment  among  the  Russians.  The  "  Grandsire  "  was  depos- 
ited in  the  fortress  by  Peter  himself,  who  had  a  good  deal  of 
sentiment  in  his  composition  ;  and  by  an  imperial  edict  all 


MEMENTOS  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT.  ^ 

the  men-of-war  are  required  to  salute  it  as  they  pass  by  on 
the  river. 

Some  distance  up  the  island  on  which  the  fortress  stands, 
is  another  boat  of  historical  interest,  about  the  size  of  this 
one,  preserved  in  a  glass  house.  It  was  made  by  Peter's 
own  hands,  and  was  used  by  him  for  nine  years,  during  the 
building  of  Petersburg.  The  cottage  beside  which  it  stands, 
a  low,  one-story  affair  of  logs,  was  also  built  by  Peter,  and 
occupied  by  him  during  the  building  of  the  city.  Every 
morning  at  four, o'clock,  during  the  long  summer  days  from 
1803  to  1812,  he  used  to  row  across  to  t^e  opposite  bank  of 
the  Neva,  to  see  that  the  laborers  were  at  work. 


ENTRANCE   TO    PETER'S   HOUSE. 

The  little  cottage  is  sacredly  protected  from  wind  and 
weather  by  a  shell  of  a  house  in  which  it  has  been  enclosed, 
and  planks  are  placed  on  the  floors  so  that  the  boards  laid 
by  Peter's  hands  shall  not  be  worn  out.  The  main  room  is 
used  as  ar  chapel  now,  and  service  there  is  perpetual  from 
sunrise  to  sunset,  by  relays  of  priests,  who  follow  one 
another  in  singing  mass  before  a  miraculous  picture  of  the 
Saviour  which  has  been  carried  in  battle  by  all  the  Czars 
since  the  time  of  Demetrius,  and  to  which  Peter  ascribed  all 
the  credit  of  the  victories  he  won  against  the  Tartars,  the 
Poles,  and  the  Turks.  As  it  is  believed  to  have  the  power 
to  heal  the  sick,  to  relieve  distress  of  all  kinds,  and  work 


72  XUSSIA : 

miracles  generally,  it  is  constantly  visited  by  those  who 
require  the  interposition  of  divine  mercy,  and  is  covered 
with  votive  offerings,  some  of  which  are  very  valuable. 

It  is  the  practice  of  the  people  to  come  to  this  Icon  before 
starting  on  a  journey  or  commencing  any  undertaking  of 
difficulty  or  importance  ;  and  as  soon  as  they  are  old  enough 
to  endure  the  exposure,  young  children  are  brought  to  it, 
and  their  lips  pressed  upon  the  glass  that  covers  the 
Saviour's  face.  There  is  also  an  image  of  Peter  in  the 
house,  before  which  candles  are  kept  burning  constantly. 
Men  and  women  <)f  whatever  station  buy  a  candle  of  the 
priests  before  they  leave  the  house,  light  it,  and  place  it  in  a 
rack,  in  order  to  propitiate  the  spirit  of  Peter,  which  is  sup- 
posed to  be  as  influential  in  the  affairs  of  heaven  as  it  was 
on  earth.  The  lighted  candle  is  the  symbol  of  remem- 
brance. As  the  old  hymn  says, 

"  While  the  light  holds  out  to  burn, 
The  vilest  sinner  may  return." 

At  another  place  down  the  river  is  still  a  third  historical 
boat,  the  same  in  which  Peter  was  caught  in  a  terrible  tem- 
pest in  Lake  Ladoga,  when  the  boat  was  capsized,  and 
Peter  nearly  lost  his  life  by  drowning,  and  by  his  exposure 
and  exertions  in  trying  to  save  the  members  of  his  crew. 
Under  his  rough  shell,  as  this  anecdote  shows,  Peter  had  not 
only  sentiment,  but  generosity.  He  cut  off  the  heads  of  his 
subjects  by  thousands ;  he  cut  out  their  tongues ;  he  had 
them  whipped  to  death  ;  he  beat  them  with  his  own  hands 
till  they  died ;  and  used,  all  the  forms  of  torture  known  to  his 
age  :  but  he  risked  his  own  life  to  save  a  few  common  sailors. 
When  he  drew  his  last  breath,  the  words,  "  Lord,  I  am  dying, 
help  thou  mine  unbelief,"  were  upon  his  lips. 

The  veneration  with  which  Peter  the  Great  is  regarded  by 
the  army  of  Russia  has  ripened  into  a  pathetic  song,  a 
monody,  ever  since  sung  by  the  soldiers,  which  closes  with 
an  allusion  to  the  honorary  ranks  he  and  all  the  Czars  since 
his  time  have  held  as  colonel  of  the  Regiment  of  the  Trans- 


MEMENTOS  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT.  73 

figuration,  and  -captain  of  a  company  of  Bombadiers.  The 
following  is  a  literal  translation,  without  any  attempt  at 
versification,  but  a  close  following  of  the  poetic  idioms  of 
the  text : — 

"  In  our  Holy  Russia,  in  the  glorious  city  of  Peter,  in  the 
cathedral  of  Peter  and  Paul,  on  the  banks  of  the  great 
river  Neva,  by  the  tombs  of  the  Czars,  a  young  soldier  was 
on  duty. 

"  Standing  there  he  thought,  and  thinking  he  began  to 
weep.  It  was  a  river  of  tears  that  flowed.  He  sobbed  ;  it 
was  the  throb  of  the  waves  of  the  sea. 

"  Bathed  in  an  ocean  of  tears,  he  cried :  *  Alas,  Alas,  our 
Mother,  the  wet  land,  open  and  desolate  on  every  side. 
Open,  ye  marble  coffins  !  Open,  ye  golden  coverlids  !  and 
thou,  Oh  Orthodox  Czar,  do  thou  awake,  do  thou  arise  ! 

"  '  Look  !  Master,  on  thy  faithful  sentinels,  that  guard  thy 
tomb.  Contemplate  thy  loved  and  loving  army ;  see  how 
the  regiments  are  disciplined,  how  the  colonels  are  with 
their  colors,  the  majors  with  the  batallions,  the  captains  at 
the  head  of  their  troops. 

"  '  They  wait,  they  weep  for  thee,  oh  Czar !  the  greatest, 
the  wisest,  the  bravest  the  empire  has  ever  known.  They 
wait,  they  weep  for  their  leader.  Arise  thou,  then,  Oh 
Master,  from  thy  long  sleep.  Awaken,  Oh  Colonel  of  the 
Regiment  Preobrajenski,  Oh  Captain  of  the  Bombadiers/  " 


XUSSIA: 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

ALEXANDER    II. 

The  Character  of  the  Late  Czar. — How  the  Assassins'  Bomb  prevented 
a  Constitutional  Government  in  Russia. — The  Attempts  to  Assas- 
sinate Alexander. — Instances  of  his  Generosity. — The  Morganatic 
Marriage  with  the  Princess  Dolgorouki. — Examples  of  Police 
Tyranny. 

AFTER  the  construction  of  Petersburg  was  pretty  well 
advanced,  Peter  the  Great  left  his  little  cottage  of  logs,  and 
removed  with  Catherine  to  a  small  palace  he  had  built  on 
the  other  side  of  the  Neva,  in  a  park  half  a  mile  long  by  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  broad,  in  the  centre  of  the  city.  He  was 
well  enough  satisfied  with  the  log  hut  himself,  but  by  this 
time  a  great  many  strangers  were  coming  to  the  new  capital, 
and  he  must  have  some  place  to  receive  them.  It  would  be, 
even  now,  a  commodious  and  comfortable  private  residence ; 
but  is  the  humblest  affair  in  the  shape  of  a  palace  in  all 
Europe.  Everything  is  kept  just  as  Peter  left  it,  and  visit- 
ors always  go  there.  The  park  itself  is  well  laid  out,  much 
frequented  by  the  people  in  the  summer  season,  and  has  a 
statue  of  Krylof,  the  famous  Russian  writer,  in  the  centre. 
In  olden  times  it  was  the  practice  for  all  betrothals  among 
the  common  people  to  take  place  in  this  park  on  Whit-Mon- 
day, but  the  custom  is  now  obsolete. 

At  the  entrance  to  the  park,  on  the  river  side,  is  a  small 
chapel,  erected  to  commemorate  the  escape  from  assassina- 
tion of  Alexander  II.,  the  late  Emperor,  in  1866.  He  was  in 
the  habit  of  coming  every  day  from  the  Winter  Palace  to 
this  park  for  exercise,  and  to  play  with  the  children,  of  whom 
he  was  very  fond.  Just  as  he  was  entering  the  gate  one 
day,  a  crazy  student  by  the  name  of  Karakazof  fired  a 


ALEXANDER  II. 


75 


revolver  at  the  back  of  his  head.  A  baker's  boy,  just  pass- 
ing, seized  the  assassin's  arm,  which  threw  the  bullet  into 
the  air,  and  saved  the  Czar's  life.  The  boy  was  feted, 
given  an  order  of  nobility  and  an  appointment  in  the  army, 
which  completely  ruined  him,  and  he  died  long  before  his 
time,  a  worthless  wretch.  The  little  chapel  was  erected  by 
the  citizens  of  Petersburg  in  honor  of  their  Czar,  and  the 
inscription  over  the  door  is  quite  appropriate. 

"TOUCH   NOT   THE   LORD'S    ANOINTED." 

Not  far  away  a  similar  chapel  is  now 
in  course  of  erection  to  mark  the  spot 
where  the  assassination  of  1881  was 
successful.  The  Czar,  coming  from  a 
military  review,  stopped  for  luncheon 
at  the  palace  of  his  cousin,  the  Grand 
Duchess  Catherine,  and  then  proceeded 
in  his  coupe,  along  the  opposite  side  of 
the  summer  garden,  toward  the  Winter 
Palace,  followed  in  another  carriage  by 
Colonel  Dvorjitski,  the  Chief  of  Police, 
and  a  third  containing  Captain  Kosck, 
an  aide. 

A  bomb  was  thrown  by  a  student 
named  Ryssakoff,  which  struck  the 
ground  under  the  rear  of  the  carriage  of  the  Emperor, 
and  tore  a  great  hole  in  the  back  part  of  it.  The  coach- 
man tried  to  drive  on,  but  the  Czar,  who  was  uninjured, 
seeing  that  one  of  his  Cossack  guards  and  a  small  boy 
who  stood  by  were  wounded,  insisted  upon  getting  out 
of  his  coupe'  and  examining  their  injuries  himself.  Then  he 
turned  to  reproach  the  assassin,  who,  in  the  meantime,  had 
been  seized  by  Captain  Kosck.  The  guards  implored  him 
to  leave  the  place  at  once,  but  the  Czar  insisted  upon 
inquiring  into  the  character  and  motives  of  the  man.  After 
having  done  so  he  started  to  return  to  his  carriage,  when  a 
second  bomb  was  thrown  by  an  accomplice,  another  student 


A  COSSACK  GUARD. 


76 


RUSSIA: 


named  Elnikoff,  striking  the  ground  behind  him,  tearing  his 
body  in  the  most  frightful  manner,  and  killing  and  wounding 
twenty-two  persons  who  had  been  attracted  to  the  scene  by 
the  first  explosion,  including  the  assassin.  It  was  proposed 
to  carry  the  Emperor  to  the  nearest  house,  but  he  whispered, 
"  Quick,  home  ;  take  me  to  the  palace — to — die."  Thither 


FUNERAL  OF  THE  LATE  CZAR. 

he  was  carried,  leaving  a  line  of  blood  along  the  snow.  An 
hour  later  he  expired,  after  having  received  the  sacrament 
and  bidden  his  family  farewell. 

A  few  weeks  before  his  death  the  Czar  had  been  secretly 
married  to  the  Princess  Dolgorouki,  who  had  been  his  mis- 
tress for  many  years,  and  by  whom  he  had  a  family  of  chil- 
dren during  the  life  of  the  Empress.  This  relation  was  one 


ALEXANDER  //. 


77 


of  the  few  blots  upon  the  character  of  an  otherwise  exem- 
plary man,  although  it  did  not  affect  him  in  the  esteem  of 
a  people  who  are  not  only  accustomed  to  have  their  sover- 
eigns behave  in  an  infinitely  worse  manner,  but  look  upon 
such  peccadilloes  as  proper  to  practise  themselves,  so  far  as 
they  are  financially  able  to  do  so.  The  present  Czar  is  the 
only  ruler  Russia  ever  had  whose  marital  obligations  are 
strictly  observed.  Against  him  there  is  not  and  there  never* 
has  bee -i  a  breath  of  scandal. 

It  is  probably  true  that  Alexander  II.  loved   this  woman 
better  than  his  own  wife.     The  latter,   the   Empress   Maria, 


OLD  PALACE  OF  THE  ROMANOFFS. 

was  of  excellent  character  and  accomplishments,  but  be- 
tween them  there  was  never  any  sympathy.  The  Princess 
Dolgorouki  was  of  a  noble  family  and  a  distant  relative  of 
the  Czar,  being  descended  from  another  branch  of  the 
Romanoff  family.  Her  great-grandmother  was  betrothed  to 
Peter  II.,  but  died  before  the  day  of  her  appointed  wedding, 
and  he  afterward  married  Catherine  the  Great. 

Upon  the  death  of  the  late  Czar  the  Princess  cut  off  her 
hair,  which  was  said  to  be  the  most  luxurious  and  beautiful 
of  any  woman's  in  Europe,  and  placed  it  upon  his  breast  as 
he  lay  in  his  coffin,  saying  as  she  did  so  that  the  Czar  ad- 
mired it  most  of  all  her  attractions,  and  should  sleep  with  it 
in  his  grave.  Her  demonstrations  of  grief  were  so  conspic- 


^g  RUSSIA  : 

uous  as  to  give  offence  to  the  legitimate  family,  and  they 
had  her  sent  out  of  the  country.  She  was  in  the  habit  of 
going  early  every  morning  to  the  cathedral  where  the  re- 
mains lay  in  state,  and  prostrating  herself  upon  them,  sobbed 
and  groaned  in  the  most  distressing  manner,  until  she  was 
removed  by  the  police.  She  several  times  tried  to  lift  his 
body  from  the  coffin,  and  called  loudly  upon  the  crowd  that 
constantly  filled  the  church  to  testify  to  his  love  for  her  and 
her  grief  for  him.  Refusing  to  cease  her  public  demonstra- 
tions when  directed  to  do  so,  she  was  sent  to  a  convent  by 
the  orders  of  the  present  Czar,  and  then  into  exile  with  her 
morganatic  family.  She  inherited  much  wealth  of  her  own, 
and  was  given  considerable  property  by  the  Czar,  which  in 
addition  to  an  allowance  made  for  her  support  by  the  pres- 
ent government  permits  her  to  live  in  luxury  in  a  chateau  in 
France.  She  is  still  a  beautiful  woman,  forty-two  or  three 
years  of  age,  highly  accomplished  and  intellectual,  and  has 
written  some  works  of  literary  merit.  She  dresses  in  the 
deepest  mourning  still,  and  is  as  conspicuous  in  her  sorrow 
as  the  Empress  Eugenie. 

One  hears  many  anecdotes  of  the  late  Czar  which  com- 
mend him  for  justice,  toleration,  and  generosity ;  and  it  is 
known  that  at  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  preparing  a 
system  of  government  similar  to  that  demanded  by  the 
Liberal  or  Constitutional  party,  but  which  under  the  pres- 
ent re'gime  is  impossible.  Thus  the  bomb  which  destroyed 
his  life  prevented  the  very  purpose  which  it  was  intended  to 
accomplish.  The  Czar  had  placed  in  the  hands  of  the 
most  liberal  of  his  ministers,  and  the  one  who  had  been 
most  urgent  in  advocating  a  Constitutional  Government,  a 
scheme  which  he  was  directed  to  perfect.  It  contemplated 
a  Parliament  similar  to  that  of  England,  a  house  of  heredi- 
tary nobles,  and  a  Commons  composed  of  Representatives 
of  the  people,  to  be  chosen  however  by  the  Czar  himself, 
and  to  have  limited  powers,  including  that  of  law-making 
and  of  selecting  the  Judiciary,  the  Czar  reserving  full  execu- 
tive authority,  the  veto  autocratic  upon  the  action  of  the 


ALEXANDER  If.  jg 

Parliament ;  and  his  approval  was  necessary  to  carry  the 
statutes  into  effect.  While  this  was  not  as  great  a  conces- 
sion as  the  Liberals  demanded,  it  was  a  long  step  forward, 
and  would  ultimately  have  resulted  in  a  liberal  form  of  gov- 
ernment. But  there  is  no  longer  any  prospect  of  even  "  a 
consultive  assembly,"  as  the  late  Czar  termed  it.  The 
assassin's  bomb  put  things  back  about  half  a  century.  Had 
Alexander  II.  lived  a  week  longer,  Russia  would  enjoy  a 
constitutional  government.  A  proclamation  announcing  it 
was  found  unsigned  upon  his  table  after  he  died.  While  he 
was  not  a  Washington,  or  a  Lincoln,  or  a  Grant,  and  would 
not  have  been  tolerated  as  a  ruler  in  the  United  States, 
still,  in  comparison  with  his  predecessors,  he  was  a  just, 
humane,  liberal,  and  generous  man,  the  best  of  all  the  Czars, 
the  most  tolerant  in  his  opinions,  the  purest  of  motive,  and 
solely  actuated,  as  I  believe,  by  a  desire  to  benefit  his  sub- 
jects. The  people  idolized  him,  and  by  the  people  I  mean 
the  masses.  The  nobles  resisted  the  emancipation  of  the 
serfs,  and  felt  very  much  as  the  planters  of  the  Southern 
States  did  at  the  emancipation  of  their  slaves ;  but  they  rec- 
ognized in  the  Czar,  as  those  same  planters  now  recognize 
in  Lincoln,  a  noble  motive  and  a  philanthropic  desire. 

Some  years  ago  there  appeared  in  print  a  most  scurrilous 
attack  upon  the  morals  of  the  late  Czar  and  the  Empress,  in 
rhyme,  which  was  discovered  to  be  the  work  of  a  young  noble 
famous  for  his  literary  gifts,  but  strongly  suspected  of  Nihil- 
istic tendencies.  When  the  identity  of  the  author  was  re- 
ported to  the  Czar,  he  sent  for  the  young  man  to  come 
and  see  him.  They  chatted  together  a  few  minutes  on  com- 
monplace topics,  when  the  Czar  invited  him  to  take  luncheon 
with  the  imperial  family.  After  the  luncheon  was  served, 
and  the  Czar  sat  sipping  a  cup  of  tea,  he  turned  to  the  young 
noble  and  said  : 

"  I  understand  you  are  a  very  clever  poet." 

The  author  blushed,  and  acknowledged  that  he  did  some 
verses  now  and  then. 

"  And  I  am  informed  that  you  are  the  writer  of  a  most 


g0  RUSSIA : 

beautiful  tribute  to  your  Emperor  and  Empress  lately — one 
of  the  most  charming  things  I  have  ever  seen,  so  pure  and 
elevated  in  sentiment,  so  nobly  and  beautifully  conceived, 
and  so  honorably  published.  I  have  asked  you  here  that 
you  may  see  the  family  you  have  made  the  subject  of  your 
lines,  in  order  that  you  may  judge  for  yourself  how  truthful 
you  are,  and  witness  '  the  old  boar,'  as  you  called  me,  and 
1  the  old  sow/  as  you  called  my  wife,  and  l  the  litter  of  pigs/ 
as  you  called  my  children,  eating  from  '  the  trough,'  as  you 
were  pleased  to  call  my  table.  Now  that  you  for  the  first 
time  have  had  an  opportunity  to  see  what  degraded  beasts  we 
are,  I  must  ask  you  to  return  the  favor  by  reading  your  little 
work  aloud  in  our  presence.  Here  is  a  copy,"  said  the  Czar, 
drawing  from  his  pocket  one  of  the  brutal  and  obscene  pam- 
phlets that  had  been  published  anonymously  and  circulated 
secretly. 

The  young  poet  dropped  upon  his  knees  and  begged  for 
mercy.  He  denied  and  confessed  the  authorship  in  the 
same  breath,  and  actually  fell  over  in  a  faint.  He  said  he 
would  rather  be  hung,  rather  be  sent  to  Siberia  than  read 
the  poem  in  the  presence  of  the  family,  and  tore  the  pam- 
phlet to  tatters.  The  Czar  took  him  by  the  hand,  bade  him 
ask  the  forgiveness  of  the  Czarina,  and  then,  with  a  word  of 
admonition,  dismissed  him. 

At  another  time  there  was  discovered  a  serious  dis- 
affection among  the  nobles,  led  by  a  man  the  Czar  had  pro- 
moted rapidly  in  office,  and  to  whom  he  had  given  a  large 
share  of  his  confidence.  The  conspiracy  was  not  ripe  when 
it  was  discovered  by  the  secret  police,  and  there  is  no  telling 
what  it  might  have  led  to,  as  the  purpose  was  to  secure  the 
cooperation  of  all  the  rich  nobles  and  boyars  who  had  been 
robbed  of  their  property,  as  they  considered  it,  by  the  eman- 
cipation of  the  serfs.  When  the  details  of  the  affair  were 
made  known  to  the  Czar,  he  sent  for  the  leader,  a  member 
of  his  own  household,  and  said  to  him  : 

"There  has  been  discovered  a  most  dastardly  conspiracy. 
This  one  is  in  it,  and  that  one,  and  the  other,"  he  said,  go- 


ALEXANDER  II.  gj 

ing  over  a  long  list  of  names,  "but  I  cannot  give  the 
name  of  the  leader,  the  originator  of  the  plot.  I  want  you  to 
discover  him  for  me,  and  will  give  you  until  to-morrow  to  do 
so.  If  you  do  not  then  report  to  me  who  he  is,  and  every 
act  of  treason  he  has  committed,  I  shall  send  you  to  the 
mines ;  I  shall  give  you  a  wolf's  passport," — the  slang  for  a 
sentence  to  Siberia. 

The  young  officer  saw  in  a  moment  that  all  was  up  with 
him,  that  the  Czar  had  possession  of  his  secret  and  knew 
his  implication  in  the  plot,  so  he  commenced  to  explain. 

"  No,  no !  "  replied  the  Czar,  "  think  it  over,  get  me  the 
details,  prepare  me  a  report  in  writing." 

The  officer's  first  impulse  when  he  left  the  presence  of 
the  Emperor  was  suicide,  but  after  thinking  calmly,  he  con- 
cluded to  make  a  clean  breast  of  it  and  throw  himself  upon 
the  Emperor's  mercy,  which  he  did,  was  forgiven,  and  thence- 
forth was  one  of  the  most  trusted  and  prominent  men  in  the 
Empire. 

In  1880  General  Von  Schwienzit  was  the  German  Am- 
bassador at  the  court  of  Russia,  and  between  him  and  the 
Czar  there  grew  up  a  great  intimacy,  although  at  the  time 
the  attitude  of  Bismarck  was  anything  but  friendly.  The 
Emperor  and  the  Ambassador,  however,  never  talked  politics, 
but  met  frequently  for  a  pipe  and  a  game  of  cards.  One 
evening  the  former  was  very  nervous  and  out  of  sorts,  and 
when  the  General  presented  himself  for  the  usual  game, 
broke  out  in  the  most  furious  passion,  denouncing  the  Ger- 
man Kaiser,  Bismarck,  and  the  entire  Teutonic  race  in  vio- 
lent language.  The  Ambassador  kept  his  temper,  but  told 
the  Emperor  that  loyalty  to  his  Sovereign  as  well  as  good 
breeding  forbade  him  to  listen  to  such  a  tirade,  and  left  the 
palace. 

Going  at  once  to  his  chamber  he  wrote  a  detailed  account 
of  what  had  occurred  to  Bismarck,  and  then,  exhausted  with 
labor  and  excitement,  went  to  bed.  His  sleep  was  disturbed 
by  a  nightmare,  and  he  dreamed  that  a  dreadful  war  was 
going  on  between  Germany  and  Russia.  When  he  awoke 
6 


32  RUSSIA : 

he  thought  the  matter  over,  and  realizing  that  his  report 
would  cause  his  recall  as  soon  as  it  reached  Bismarck,  and 
without  doubt  interrupt  the  relations  between  the  two  gov- 
ernments, if  it  did  not  cause  a  war,  decided  to  hold  it  back 
for  further  development.  Even  while  he  sat  thinking,  at 
seven  o'clock  in  the  morning,  there  arrived  an  aide-de-camp 
from  the  palace  who  said  that  the  Czar  desired  to  see  him 
at  once.  He  went,  and  upon  reaching  the  little  library  in 
which  the  Czar  did  his  writing,  was  astonished  to  hear  him 
beg  his  pardon  with  the  deepest  humility  for  the  passion  he 
had  shown  the  night  before. 

"  I  was  very  much  provoked,"  said  the  Emperor,  "  by  a 
report  I  had  read  just  before  you  came  in,  of  what  was 
going  on  at  the  capital  of  your  country,  and  lost  control  of 
myself  entirely,  but  as  a  gentleman  I  owe  you  the  deepest 
apology  for  my  unseemly  conduct,  and  could  do  nothing  till 
I  had  seen  you  and  asked  your  forgiveness.  I  have  not 
slept  since  I  saw  you.  I  have  not  even  removed  my  clothes. 
I  have  been  in  the  greatest  distress,  and  twice  dispatched 
messengers  to  you  during  the  night,  but  your  Legation  was 
closed,  and  they  could  not  awake  your  servants. " 

The  predecessors  of  Alexander  II.  upon  the  throne  did 
not  treat  their  critics  with  so  great  generosity  as  he,  for  he 
was  most  lenient,  and  usually  endeavored  to  study  criticism 
in  the  proper  light  and  draw  some  benefit  from  it.  He 
twice  asked  assailants  who  had  failed  to  kill  him  what 
their  motive  was,  and  what  wrong  he  had  done  to  them  ;  and 
if  he  had  not  been  so  anxious  to  question  the  Nihilist  who 
first  attacked  him  on  that  March  afternoon  in  1881,  and  to 
assist  in  the  care  of  the  wounded,  he  might  be  alive  to-day. 
In  a  public  square  in  the  centre  of  the  city,  surrounded  by 
several  of  the  principal  buildings,  the  Imperial  Theatre,  the 
Public  Library  (in  which  are  the  two  libraries  of  Voltaire, 
placed  there  by  Catherine  the  Great,  who  bought  them  after 
the  death  of  her  correspondent  and  friend),  and  by  the 
private  palace  of  the  Czar,  was  committed  one  of  the  great- 


ALEXANDER  //.  g^ 

est  outrages  the  world  has  ever  been  disgraced  by,  and  it 
was  inflicted  by  a  woman  upon   a  woman. 

The  Empress  Elizabeth,  as  I  have  said  elsewhere,  was  not 
discreet  in  her  relations  with  men.  She  was  never  married, 
but  had  several  children,  and  a  good  many  lovers,  with  whom 
she  lived  openly  and  appeared  constantly  in  public.  She  was 
as  profligate  a  woman  as  Catherine,  but  hadn't  her  brains  or 
sense.  She  was  simply  a  beautiful  animal.  The  Countess 


THE  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH. 

Lapoukyn,  a  lady  of  the  court,  was  also  very  beautiful,  and 
even  more  admired  than  the  Empress,  who  was  jealous  of 
her,  and  resented  the  attentions  she  received.  While  the 
Countess,  according  to  the  narratives  of  the  case,  was  not 
entirely  sinless  herself,  her  life  was  angelic  compared  with 
that  of  Elizabeth,  and  what  is  more,  she  had  a  bright  wit  and 
a  keen  tongue. 

One  day  she  made  a  witty  epigram  upon  the  loves  of  the 
Empress,  which  reached  the  royal  ears.     Elizabeth  had  her 


84 


RUSSIA  : 


arrested  for  treason,  and  imprisoned  while  a  nominal  investi- 
gation took  place.  Then  she  was  taken  to  this  public 
square,  stripped  to  the  skin  in  the  presence  of  thousands  of 
spectators,  and  cruelly  whipped  with  a  knout  till  the  blood 
from  her  lacerated  back  and  limbs  besmeared  the  platform. 
Then,  as  if  this  was  not  enough,  her  tongue  was  cut  out 
and  thrown  to  a  dog  which  ate  it,  and  she  was  sent  at  once 
to  Siberia,  "  for  speaking  evil  of  God's  anointed."  Scandal 


A  RUSSIAN  MAIDEN. 

was  pretty  effectually  silenced  during  the  rest  of  Elizabeth's 
reign. 

It  is  not  safe  to-day  for  any  one  to  speak  his  mind  freely 
in  Petersburg.  All  the  walls  have  ears,  and  the  people  have 
had  examples  enough  to  teach  them  caution.  I  found  it 
extremely  difficult  to  persuade  any  one  to  discuss  the  Czar, 
Nihilism,  the  Police,  or  any  other  tabooed  topic.  Some- 
times'when  I  was  out  in  a  carriage  with  a  friend  he  would 
talk  politics,  but  he  could  not  be  induced  to  do  so  in  the  pos- 


ALEXANDER  II.  gtj 

sible  hearing  of  any  of  the  secret  police  ;  and  a  man  does  not 
know  but  his  wife  or  his  children  or  his  servants  belong  to 
"  The  Third  Section,"  as  it  is  called.  I  had  a  courier, 
a  Protestant  Russian,  an  honest,  intelligent,  and  faithful 
fellow,  who  would  discuss  every  subject  but  those  relating 
to  the  government  of  the  country.  He  told  me  very  frankly, 
it  was  one  topic  he  never  talked  about,  and  of  which  he 
knew  nothing.  "  The  less  a  man  knows  of.  public  affairs 
here,"  he  said,  "  the  safer  and  happier  he  is." 

Not  long  ago  two  men  sat  talking  at  a  table  in  a  cafe  in 
one  of  the  summer  gardens  on  the  islands  of  the  Neva. 
One  was  a  Russian  native  who  had  never  been  outside  the 
country;  the  other  a  Fin,  who  had  been  for  several  years 
in  the  art  schools  and  University  of  Paris,  and  had  come 
to  Petersburg  to  reside.  They  were  discussing  Nihilism. 
Neither  belonged  to  or  sympathized  with  any  of  the  Nihilis- 
tic organizations.  They  were  simply  talking  of  the  causes 
and  consequences  of  the  movement,  and  supposed  they  were 
so  far  from  any  listener  as  to  be  perfectly  safe.  The  next 
day  the  two  men  met  in  a  prison.  In  the  meantime  both  had 
been  called  upon  by  the  police  for  an  account  of  the  conver- 
sation, the  doctrines  they  advocated,  and  the  opinions  they 
held.  It  was  their  good  fortune  to  have  influential  friends 
who  secured  their  release,  but  it  could  not  have  been 
effected  had  not  the  reports  they  gave  of  their  conversation 
tallied  to  a  dot.  Both  were  examined  separately  without 
the  knowledge  of  the  other,  both  adhered  to  the  truth  with 
the  strictest  accuracy  and  detail,  for  their  lives  were  at  stake, 
and  when  the  two  statements  were  placed  side  by  side  they 
could  not  have  been  nearer  alike  if  they  had  been  made  by 
the  same  man.  The  only  explanation  of  their  denunciation 
is  that  their  conversation  was  overheard  by  a  woman  wait- 
ress at  the  cafe,  who  was  in  the  employ  of  the  police. 
Strangely  enough,  many  of  the  plots  are  hatched  in  cafes,  and 
at  the  same  time  spies  are  thickest  there. 

I  heard  of  another  case.  A  most  estimable  noble  living 
in  the  country,  a  man  of  considerable  wealth,  established  a 


36  KUSSIA: 

\ 

school  for  the  education  of  the  children  of  his  employes. 
Some  of  their  fathers  and  mothers  desired  to  learn  to  read 
also,  and  in  order  that  their  work  might  not  be  interfered 
with,  one  hour  each  .night  was  occupied  by  the  noble  and  his 
wife  in  teaching  them.  A  stranger  came  along  one  day,  and 
as  the  custom  is,  went  to  the  best  house  in  the  neighborhood 
to  ask  for  food  and  lodging,  there  being  no  inn  for  several 
miles. 

He  witnessed  the  gathering  of  the  servants  and  noticed 
that  the  noble  and  his  wife  were  closeted  with  them  for  an 
hour  or  more  in  what  to  him  was  a  mysterious  manner. 
His  host  explained  that  he  was  teaching  a  night  school. 
The  visitor  whispered  to  his  drosky  driver,  who  was  also 
under  the  same  roof,  to  pump-  the  servants.  As  the  peasants 
are  always  close-mouthed  he  was  unable  to  learn  anything, 
and  the  mystery  was  deepened.  The  visitor  was  an  agent 
of  the  secret  police,  engaged  in  the  investigation  of  some 
secret  organization  in  that  part  of  the  country,  and  being 
anxious  to  distinguish  himself  and  win  the  favor  of  his 
superiors,  he  denounced  the  noble  and  his  wife  for  conspir- 
acy. When  the  arrest  was  made  the  noble  was  of  course 
very  much  astonished.  His  explanation  went  for  nothing, 
as  the  police  had  never  heard  of  one  of  his  class  being 
engaged  in  such  an  occupation  as  teaching  peasants  to  read. 
Besides,  there  is  a  law  prohibiting  the  establishment  of 
schools  without  the  consent  of  the  government.  He  and 
his  wife  got  "  a  wolfs  passport,"  were  banished  to  Siberia, 
and  died  there  a  few  years  afterward,  their  property  being  in 
the  meantime  confiscated  to  the  crown. 

Such  cases  are  frequent,  and  silence  is  sometimes  as  dan- 
gerous as  speech.  The  afternoon  the  late  Czar  was  as- 
sassinated, a  man  came  running  into  the  counting-house  of 
a  certain  merchant  with  the  news.  All  those  present  ex- 
pressed themselves  freely  about  the  terrible  affair  except 
one  clerk,  a  reticent,  moody  man  who  was  incredulous,  and 
thought  it  best  not  to  say  anything  till  the  information  was 
confirmed.  The  next  day  he  was  arrested  and  banished  to 


ALEXANDER  II.  3,7 

the  mines.  His  silence  was  considered  suspicious  to  one 
of  his  fellow-clerks,  who  was  a  member  of  the  secret  police, 
and  at  once  reported  the  fact  to  headquarters  and  received  a 
reward. 

While  I  was  in  Petersburg  a  similar  case  occurred. 
There  is  an  Englishman  who  has  a  print  factory  on  one  of 
the  islands  in  the  Neva  river.  One  day  an  officer  came  to 
the  factory,  arrested  the  foreman,  and  took  him  away.  He 
never  was  seen  again.  The  employer  made  as  much  inquiry 
as  he  dared,  and  vouched  for  the  loyalty  and  integrity  of  his 
foreman,  but  he  could  ascertain  nothing  more  than  that  the 
man  was  a  "  suspect."  His  fate  is  only  a  matter  of  con- 
jecture. It  is  not  safe  to  inquire  too 
particularly  into  the  actions  of  the  police. 

Near  the  print  works  of  this  English- 
man, on  an  adjoining  island,  is  a  prison 
in  which  are  supposed  to  be  detained 
suspected  or  accused  persons  awaiting 
transportation  to  the  mines.  The  guards 
are  so  thick  upon  the  banks  of  the 
island  that  they  can  speak  to  one  an- 
other, and  their  orders  are,  as  they  pace 
their  beats,  to  shoot  any  person  who  at- 
tempts to  land.  No  warning  is  given,  AN  EXILE  IN 
no  password  is  asked.  As  soon  as  the 
foot  of  a  stranger  touches  the  turf  on  the  banks  of  the 
island  a  bullet  is  fired  at  his  heart.  His  body  falls  into  the 
stream  and  floats  down  to  the  sea.  No  questions  are  asked. 
Only  one  boat  is  allowed  to  land  on  the  island.  That  is 
painted  black,  and  belongs  to  the  police.  No  one  has 
ever  returned  from  that  prison.  People  may  have  been 
released  from  it,  but  if  so  they  have  never  confessed  the 
fact,  and  the  popular  belief  is  that  whoever  lands  there  once 
never  leaves  alive  except  to  go  to  Siberia. 

One  day  while  I  was  in  St.  Petersburg  an  empty  boat  was 
found  floating  on  the  river.  It  belonged  to  an  old  man  who 
keeps  such  boats  to  hire,  and  was  rented  from  him  by  a 


88 


RUSSIA : 


stranger ;  a  foreigner,  he  thought.  The  next  day  the  body  of 
a  man  was  discovered  between  two  vessels,  whe're  it  had 
caught  while  floating  down  the  tide.  There  was  a  bullet 
mark  in  the  breast,  and  the  boatman  said  the  features  were 
the  same  as  those  of  the  foreigner  who  had  rented  a  boat  of 
him.  No  further  investigation  was  necessary.  The  man  had 
either  committed  suicide,  or  had  been  shot  while  trying  to 
land  on  the  island  of  Schlusselburg. 

The  prison  on  this  island  is  the  scene  of   some  of  the 


AFTER  FIFTEEN  YEARS  EXILE. 


most  tragic  events  in  Russian  history.  It  was  here  in  1741 
that  Ivan  VI.,  the  great-nephew  of  Peter  the  Great,  was  im- 
prisoned for  sixteen  years  after  the  revolution  which  placed 
his  cousin  Elizabeth  on  the  throne  of  Russia.  This  heir  to 
an  empire  was  shut  up  in  a  dungeon  which  the  light  of  day 
never  entered,  and  in  which  only  one  candle  was  allowed  to 
burn.  No  clock  was  permitted,  so  that  for  sixteen  years 
Ivan  knew  no  difference  between  day  and  night.  •  The  guard, 
who  was  always  in  the  dungeon,  was  not  allowed  to  speak 
to  him,  not  even  to  answer  the  simplest  question,  He 


ALEXANDER  II. 


89 


could  talk  to  the  soldier,  and  any  reasonable  request  he 
made  was  gratified ;  but  the  sufferings  of  Bonnivard,  the  fa- 
mous prisoner  of  Chillon,  were  not  to  be  compared  to  his. 
His  death  resulted  from  the  attempt  of  one  Vassilli  Miro- 
vitch,  a  lieutenant  of  the  garrison,  to  release  him.  Having 
wounded  and  secured  the  governor  of  the  castle,  and 
reached  the  dungeon  in  which  the  Prince  was  confined, 
Mirovitch  and  his  men  attacked  the  guards  that  were  kept  in 
the  outer  chamber.  At  the  noise  of  the  firing  Ivan  awoke 
from  sleep,  and  attempting  to  assist  his  rescuers  by  unfast- 
ening the  door  of  the  dungeon,  was  killed  by  the  soldier  in 
the  room  with  him,  who  then  opened  the  door  and  showed 
Mirovitch  the  bleeding  body  of  the  prisoner. 


no  RUSSIA: 


CHAPTER   IX. 

THE   IMPERIAL    STABLES/ 

They  Illustrate  the  Wicked  Extravagance  of  the  Sovereigns. — Carriages 
and  Harnesses  that  are  Mounted  with  Gold  and  Jewels. — The 
Sledge  that  Peter  Made.— The  Czar's  Eight  Hundred  Horses .— 
Sanitary  Condition  of  the  City. — The  River  Neva,  and  the  Cere- 
monies that  Annually  Occur. 

THE  extravagance  of  the  Russian  sovereigns  is  nowhere 
better  exemplified  than  in  the  imperial  stables,  which  are 
located  not  far  from  the  Winter  Palace.  The  Czar  has  eight 
hundred  horses,  the  finest  in  the  world.  Russia  is  the  coun- 
try of  fine  horses,  and  he  has  the  best  of  them.  These 
stables  cost  the  government  2,000,000  roubles  a  year 
(about  $900,000),  while  we  pay  the  President  of  the  United 
States  $50,000,  and  make  him  find  his  own  horses.  Two 
thousand  men,  hostlers,  coachmen,  footmen,  grooms,  equer- 
ries, secretaries,  quartermasters,  purchasing  agents,  harness 
makers,  carriage  builders,  veterinary  surgeons,  are  employed 
to  look  after  the  stud,  which  is  distributed  around  among 
the  several  palaces  the  Emperor  inhabits.  There  are  some 
at  Peterhof,  some  at  Gatschina,  some  at  Tsarskoe  Selo,  but 
the  most  of  them  are  in  Petersburg.  The  stables,  or  koniv- 
shennayas,  as  the  name  appears  in  the  Russian  tongue,  which 
makes  the  best  possible  use  of  the  thirty-six  letters  in  the 
alphabet,  give  one  as  good  an  idea  as  he  can  get  elsewhere, 
not  only  of  the  extravagant  tastes  and  wicked  wastefulness 
of  the  Czars,  but  of  the  vastness  of  the  city.  They  cover 
as  much  ground  as  an  ordinary  village,  are  a  series  of  rec- 
tangular two-story  buildings,  enclosing  large  courts,  the 
upper  floors  being  used  for  storage  and  the  lower  for  the 
stock. 


THE  IMPERIAL  STABLES.  gl 

The  halls  in  which  the  imperial  carriages  and  harness  are 
kept  are  hung  with  Gobelin  tapestry.  Think  of  it ! — a 
stable  hung  with  the  rarest  and  richest  fabric  in  the  world. 
The  gilded  chariots  of  a  circus  procession  will  have  no 
further  interest  for  those  who  have  visited  Russia.  Many  of 
my  readers  doubtless  have  seen  the  imperial  carriages  at 
Versailles,  or  in  Berlin,  or  Vienna ;  have  visited  the  Royal 
Mews  at  Buckingham  Palace,  London,  and  have  enjoyed 
looking  at  the  carriages  of  state.  They  can  appreciate  the 
grandeur  of  the  Russian  stables  when  I  say  that  the  com- 
bined collections  of  London,  Versailles,  Berlin,  and  Vienna 
would  be  lost  sight  of  among  the  equipages  of  the  Czars. 

The  tapestry  with  which  the  walls  are  covered  is  alone 
worth  a  visit,  for  it  is  one  of  the  finest  and  most  extensive 
collections  in  the  world,  and  nowhere  can  the  work  of  the 


A  VISITING   CARD. 

famous  French  factory  be  studied  with  better  results.  Much 
of  this  tapestry  was  presented  by  the  several  sovereigns  of 
France  to  their  contemporaries  in  Russia.  Some  of  it  was 
sent  by  Napoleon  I.  to  Alexander,  when  he  was  trying 
to  make  an  alliance  against  the  other  European  powers  ; 
more  was  given  to  Catherine  by  the  three  Louis ;  and  some 
was  manufactured  at  the  Gobelin  works  at  the  order  of  the 
Czars,  to  commemorate  incidents  and  epochs  in  Russian 
history.  There  is  one  very  large  and  fine  piece  representing 
the  apparition  of  the  Cross  to  Constantine,  and  another 
equally  fine  portraying  the  scene  at  the  coronation  of  some 
Czar.  Peter  the  Great,  who  always  adopted  good  ideas, 
endeavored  to  create  an  establishment  similar  to  that  of  the 
Gobelins  at  St.  Petersburg  after  his  visit  to  France,  and 
brought  back  with  him  artists  and  weavers ;  but  when  he 


92 


RUSSIA : 


died  the  factory  was  closed.  Much  of  the  work  it  produced 
while  it  was  running  is  here  preserved. 

I  will  not  attempt  to  give  a  description  or  even  a  list  of 
the  carriages  in  the  Czar's  stables,  but  only  allude  to  some 
of  the  most  conspicuous.  The  least  costly  of  them  would  be 
a  great  curiosity  and  attraction  in  any  museum  in  the  world. 
One  of  the  finest  is  an  immense  coach  of  gilded  metal,  pre- 
sented in  1746  by  Frederick  the  Great  of  Prussia  to  the 
Empress  Elizabeth.  The  arms  of  its  royal  giver  are  set  in 
jewels  on  one  door,  and  those  of  the  lady  to  whom  it  was 
given  are  on  the  other.  The  Princess  Dagmar  of  Denmark, 
the  present  Czarina,  made  her  entree  into  the  capital  of 
Russia  in  this  carriage  at  the  time  of  her  marriage  with  the 
Crown  Prince.  Number  4  in  the  official  catalogue  is  a  car- 
riage obtained  in  Paris  by  Count  Orloff,  and  presented  to 
his  royal  mistress,  Catherine  the  Great,  by  whom  it  was 
commonly  used,  for  the  Empress  rode  in  great  style  in  those 
days.  The  exterior  is  painted  with  a  series  of  allegories  by 
Gravelot,  the  court  painter  of  Louis  XIV.  Next  comes 
another  gift  of  Orloff  to  Catherine,  a  carriage  she  only  used 
on  state  occasions.  The  Count  had  it  made  in  England,  and 
it  was  decorated  by  Boucher  with  allegorical  designs,  repre- 
senting Love,  Labor,  Industry,  Commerce,  Science,  Abun- 
dance, and  other  similar  ideas.  The  coachman's  box  is 
upheld  upon  the  beaks  of  two  large  eagles,  handsomely 
carved  in  wood,  while  the  platform  for  the  footman  in  the 
rear  is  guarded  by  St.  George  and  the  dragon.  The  exterior 
is  covered  with  very  heavy  gold-leaf,  about  as  thick  as  card- 
board, and  on  the  panel  of  either  door  are  the  arms  of  Cath- 
erine, as  large  as  a  man's  hat,  set  in  diamonds.  This  car- 
riage cost  as  much  as  a  palace,  as  much  as  the  house  in 
which  the  President  of  the  United  States  resides.  There 
are  several  other  carnages  that  belonged  to  Catherine  set 
with  jewels  of  all  sorts,  diamonds,  rubies,  emeralds,  tuis 
quoises,  pearls,  and  other  stones,  strewn  over  them  in  th& 
most  reckless  manner. 

There  are  a  number  of  similar  equipages  that  belonged  to 


THE  IMPERIAL  STABLES.  ^ 

Elizabeth,  Anna,  Paul,  and  the  other  sovereigns.  Down  to  the 
time  of  Alexander,  about  the  commencement  of  the  present 
century,  the  Czars  and  Empresses  began  to  conceive  of  some 
other  use  for  money  than  the  decoration  of  carriages  with 
jewels.  Then  it  became  possible  for  one  of  the  sovereigns 
of  Russia  to  ride  in  a  coach  the  handles  to  whose  doors 
were  not  of  gold  and  set  with  diamonds  worth  a  dozen 


CORONATION  OF  THE  CZAR. 


school-houses  ;  but  before  that  time  every  successive  mon- 
arch tried  to  out-rival  his  predecessors,  and  eclipse  the 
splendor  of  everything  that  had  been  seen  before.  Cather- 
ine especially,  the  most  extravagant  woman  that  ever  lived, 
had  her  carnage  covered  with  jewels,  every  one  of  which  was 
of  a  value  greater  than  the  cost  of  an  elegant  carriage  to-day. 
And  the  example  of  this  extravagance  is  still  felt.  For 
the  coronation  of  the  present  Czar,  himself  a  man  without 
extravagant  tastes,  precedent  required  a  lot  of  new  carnages, 


94  RUSSIA  : 

and  ten  were  made  at  a  cost  of  $40,000  each,  to  be  used 
but  once,  and  then  for  only  an  hour  or  more,  when  they 
were  shipped  to  Petersburg  to  be  stared  at,  like  the  car- 
riages of  Catherine  and  Paul. 

In  olden  times  it  was  the  fashion  to  draw  kings  and 
queens  about  with  twelve  white,  or  twelve  black  horses. 
Sometimes  in  Russia  they  used  to  vary  the  effect  by  harness- 
ing black  and  white  ones  together;  and  it  must  have  been 
a  glorious  sight  to  see  these  magnificent  equipages  drawn  by 
such  splendid  animals  as  lived  in  the  Czar's  stables.  I  saw 
a  team  of  twelve  white  stallions,  ridden  by  outriders,  drawing 
the  imperial  family  around  the  park  at  Peterhof  on  the  occa- 
sion of  the  Empress'/^  day. 

In  the  harness  house  of  the  royal  stables  are  full  sets  of 
harness  for  all  the  carriages  I  have  spoken  of,  and  they  cor- 
respond in  elegance  and  extravagance.  On  some  of  the 
harness  for  the  chariots  of  Catherine  every  strap  is  set  with 
double  rows  of  jewels.  There  is  a  double  row  of  pearls  all 
over  a  red  harness  for  twelve  horses,  and  a  double  row  of 
turquoises  on  another  that  is  made  of  white  morocco.  The 
mountings  of  all  of  the  harnesses  are  of  solid  silver.  Much 
of  it  is  gilded  to  look  like  gold.  Nickel  or  iron  or  brass 
could  have  been  gilded  just  as  well,  but  would  not  have  cost 
a  hundredth  part  as  much,  and  it  was  the  amoupt  of  money 
they  spent  and  not  what  they  spent  it  for  that  troubled  the 
Czars.  Some  of  this  harness  cost  $100,000  for  a  single 
set.  When  Catherine  went  out  to  ride  in  her  best  coach, 
with  her  finest  horses  and  her  most  expensive  harness,  the 
sum  of  two  or  three  million  dollars  was  drawn  along  the 
road. 

It  is  a  welcome  relief  to  turn  from  all  this  magnificence  to 
the  sledge  of  Peter  the  Great,  made  entirely  with  his  own 
hands,  and  used  by  him  for  twenty  years  or  more.  It  is  pro- 
tected from  the  tooth  of  time  by  a  glass  case,  is  in  an 
excellent  state  of  preservation,  and  was  made  by  a  good 
workman  of  enduring  materials.  The  windows  are  of  mica, 
the  interior  is  upholstered  in  the  coarsest  sort  of  leather, 


THE  IMPERIAL  STABLES. 


95 


there  is  a  shelf  arranged  for  Peter  to  write  upon  as  he  slid 
over  the  snow,  and  the  seats  are  so  fixed  that  he  could  make 
it  quite  a  comfortable  bed  for  night  travel.  Behind  the 
coach  is  a  box  in  which  he  carried  his  clothing  and  papers, 
which  can  be  opened  from  either  the  inside  or  the  outside. 
Peter  used  to  go  all  over  his  empire  in  the  winter  on  this 
sledge,  and  travelled  rapidly  with  relays  of  six  horses,  which 
were  always  hitched  abreast. 

Beside  it  is  another  holy  historical  relic,  which  loyal 
Russians  approach  in  silence  and  sometimes  with  tearful 
eyes.  It  is  the  coupe  in  which  the  late  Czar  was  riding 
when  he  was  assassinated.  The  damage  of  the  bomb  is 
left  without  repair.  The  under  part  of  the  box  between  the 
hind  wheels  is  torn  away.  Here  too  are  the  toy  sledges 
which  the  present  Czar  used  when  he  was  a  boy,  and  the 
little  carriage  he  drove  to  a  couple  of  Shetland  ponies  thirty 
years  ago,  with  a  lot  of  other  relics  of  the  past  reigns,  includ- 
ing some  harlequin  sledges  Catherine  used  for  carousals  on 
the  ice. 

In  one  room  in  the  upper  portion  of  the  stables  are  the 
liveries  of  eight  hundred  footmen  and  coachmen,  and  they 
are  dusted  every  day.  The  carriages  that  are  in  common 
use  are  kept  in  the  lower  part  of  the  building,  where  they 
can  be  conveniently  reached  when  wanted.  When  the  Czar 
drives  out  ordinarily,  he  goes  like  any  other  gentleman  in  a 
coupe*  or  landau,  with  a  driver  and  footman  in  a  livery  of 
white  and  silver,  silk  stockings,  knee  breeches,  and  cocked 
hats.  Four  Cossack  guards  always  accompany  him,  riding 
on  either  side  of  the  carriage  ;  and  often  an  officer  of  the  Cos- 
sacks takes  the  place  of  the  footman  on  the  box.  The  Czar 
uses  a  basket-phaeton  in  the  country,  which  he  drives  himself, 
but  of  course  has  a  large  number  of  carriages  of  all  sorts. 

The  favorite  carriage  of  the  Empress,  and  the  one  in  which 
she  is  most  frequently  seen,  is  a  victoria  purchased  in  Paris. 
She  is  always  accompanied  by  an  officer  on  horseback,  and 
usually  has  one  of  her  children  in  the  carriage  with  her. 
Her  favorite  horses  are  splendid  black  stallions,  with  tails 


96 


RUSSIA : 


that  sweep  the  ground.  The  Grand  Duke  Alexis,  who  is  a 
knock-about  sort  of  a  fellow,  and  goes  everywhere  regard- 
less of  Nihilists,  rides  in  a  drosky  as  often  as  anything  else ; 
while  his  brothers  Sergius  and  Paul  imitate  his  example  in 
a  mild  way. 

There  is  considerable  rivalry  among  the  wealthy  families 
of  Petersburg  in  the  matter  of  riding  and  driving,  and  one 
can  see,  on  the  islands  in  the  summer  and  on  the  Neva  or 
the  Nevski  Prospect  in  winter,  the  finest  horseflesh  in  the 
world.  The  pavements  of  the  city  are  distressingly  bad, 
worse  than  those  of  New  York,  and  of  a  similar  style — 
stones  laid  in  the  roughest  manner.  There  is  some  excuse 
for  them  in  Petersburg  however,  as  the  streets  are  so  wide 
that  it  would  bankrupt  the  city  to  pave  them  with  anything 
that  would  wear  out.  A  sort  of  compromise  with  comfort 
has  been  effected,  however,  by  laying  a  strip  of  wood  pave- 
ment on  each  side  of  the  roadway,  next  the  sidewalk,  wide 
enough  for  two  carriages  to  go  abreast ;  and  the  drivers 
usually  stick  to  that.  The  streets  are  kept  very  clean,  under 
the  direction  of  Dr.  Duncan,  a  jolly  Scotchman  who  occu- 
pies the  office  of  Director-General  of  Public  Health ;  and 
squads  of  men  are  kept  constantly  at  work  sweeping  them 
with  little  brooms  and  carrying  off  the  dirt  in  carts.  There 
is  a  law  against  throwing  paper  or  other  refuse  in  the  street, 
and  it  is  rigidly  enforced.  There  was  formerly  a  law  pro- 
hibiting smoking  in  the  streets,  but  that  is  obsolete.  The 
roadways  are  constantly  watered  during  the  summer  season, 
not  by  sprinkling  carts  such  as  we  have,  but  by  a  gang  of 
men  with  hose,  which  they  attach  to  the  hydrants.  One  man 
with  a  line  of  hose  is  given  a  couple  of  blocks,  and  keeps 
sprinkling  from  sunrise  to  sunset.  In  the  winter,  after  every 
snow-fall,  the  pavements  are  cleared  by  the  soldiers,  leaving 
only  a  few  inches  in  the  road  for  sleighing,  which  lasts  con- 
stantly from  November  to  April. 

The  sanitary  condition  of  the  city  under  Dr.  Duncan  is 
absolutely  perfect  He  has  imperial  power,  can  condemn  a 
house  for  bad  sewerage  and  order  it  taken  down,  and  has  as 


THE  IMPERIAL  STABLES. 


97 


much  authority  in  his  department  as  if  he  were  the  Czar. 
If  a  sewer  is  found  defective  he  does  not  have  to  go  to  the 
Common  Council  and  get  an  ordinance  passed  to  repair  it ; 
he  simply  orders  out  a  gang  of  men  and  has  it  done.  If 
a  butcher  in  the  market  does  not  keep  his  stall  clean 
the  Doctor  simply  notifies  the  police  who  close  out  the 
establishment  and  confiscate  his  property.  If  there  is  a  nui- 
sance of  any  sort  existing,  there  need  be  no  process  of  law 
to  abate  it.  The  Doctor's  power  is  unlimited.  He  can  do 
exactly  as  he  considers  proper,  can  burn  it  down  or  cover  it 
up,  whichever  he  thinks  is  the  best.  As  far  as  the  health  of 


TOBAPOM* 

JlETPOBHHA. 

—  4M  A  P 

^S-J  -  *&&&e  - 


IIPHHHBAWTCfl  3AKA3LI  HA 


-  1-  B*&  JKOCKB*.  -»  - 
A  RUSSIAN    CARD. 

the  city  is  concerned  he  is  the  Czar.  He  speaks  with  the 
Czar's  voice,  and  has  the  entire  army  of  Russia  at  his  back 
to  execute  his  orders.  The  law  against  the  sale  of  adulter- 
ated food  and  liquors  is  positive  and  inexorable,  and  all  in- 
telligent sanitary  measures  are  enforced. 

There  was  a  theatre  in  Petersburg  which  was  paying  its 
proprietor  a  profit  of  two  thousand  roubles  a  month.  The 
inspectors  decided  that  it  was  not  safe  from  fire,  and  di- 
rected some  improvements.  The  proprietor  made  them  in  a 
slipshod  sort  of  way,  without  regard  to  the  directions  of  the 
officers,  trusting  to  the  popularity  he  enjoyed  to  carry  him 
through.  When  the  inspectors  saw  how  he  had  evaded 
their  orders  and  tried  to  circumvent  them,  they  at  once 
closed  up  the  establishment,  and  took  the  proprietor  to 
prison,  where  he  spent  several  months  reflecting  upon  the 
danger  of  playing  with  an  autocrat. 
7 


98 


RUSSIA  : 


On  one  of  the  islands  in  the  Neva  is  a  summer  garden, 
with  a  magnificent  cafe,  an  open  air  theatre,  and  a  fine  col- 
lection of  wild  animals,  a  mixture  of  restaurant,  circus,  and 
park.  It  was  fitted  up  at  an  enormous  expense,  was  the 
most  popular  resort  in  Russia,  and  the  owner  was  a  Prince 
who  was  coining  money  out  of  an  enterprise  conducted 
under  the  name  of  his  active  manager.  A  guest  at  the 
place  was  assaulted  by  a  waiter,  and  complained  to  the 
police.  They  investigated  the  case,  or  attempted  to  do  so, 
but  found  themselves  thwarted  at  every  turn  by  the  manager, 
who  thought  a  man  with  a  Prince  behind  him  could  do  what 
he  pleased.  The  police  directed  that  the  man  who  com- 
mitted the  assault  should  report  at  their  headquarters  the 
next  morning.  He  did  not  come.  An  officer  went  to  the 
gardens  and  asked  why.  The  manager  told  him  he  thought 
enough  fuss  had  been  made  about  a  little  affair  already. 
His  opinion  changed,  however,  for  he  was  at  once  arrested, 
sent  to  prison,  and  the  place  was  closed  the  rest  of  the 
season,  despite  the  efforts  of  the  Prince,  whose  money  was 
invested,  to  have  it  reopened.  A  little  autocracy  of  this 
sort  keeps  a  high  state  of  discipline  in  Petersburg. 

So  far  as  the  enforcement  of  the  sanitary  laws  are  con- 
cerned, however,  Dr.  Duncan  has  the  reputation  of  being 
strictly  just.  He  is  a  man  of  great  ability  and  influence 
both  with  the  people  and  with  the  Czar,  who,  like  his  father, 
is  very  fond  of  him,  and  particularly  relishes  the  blunt  way 
he  has  of  expressing  himself.  He  was  born  in  Petersburg 
of  Scotch  parents,  but  was  educated  at  the  Royal  College  of 
Surgeons  in  Edinburgh.  All  his  life  he  has  practised  medi- 
cine in  Russia,  succeeding  his  father,  who  was  also  a  physi- 
cian. He  is  respected  and  esteemed  by  every  one,  and,  as  I 
have  often  heard,  is  the  only  man  in  Russia  who  speaks  his 
mind  on  all  occasions  to  all  persons.  A  good  many  stories 
are  told  of  his  relations  with  the  late  Czar,  which  were  inti- 
mate, and  of  the  good  advice  he  used  to  give  him  once  in  a 
while  with  a  strong  Scotch  flavor.  His  candor  and  his  cour- 
age have  saved  him  a  trip  to  Siberia  many  a  time,  for  no 


THE  IMPERIAL  STABLES.  QQ 

other  man  in  the  empire  could  do  and  say  what  he  does  with- 
out getting  "  a  wolf's  passport." 

The  river  Neva  is  at  once  the  blessing  and  the  curse  of 
Petersburg.  Upon  its  banks  the  most  magnificent  palaces 
are  erected,  the  Art  Gallery,  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and 
the  finest  of  the  residences  of  the  nobles  and  the  merchants. 
The  numerous  islands  are  the  parks  and  pleasure  grounds  of 
the  people,  and  are  filled  with  resorts  that  are  thronged  dur- 
ing both  the  summer  and  winter  months.  On  the  islands 
also  are  many  fine  residences  occupied  during  the  summer 
only.  Little  steamers  like  those  upon  the  Thames  and  the 
Seine  are  constantly  running  up  and  down,  carrying  persons 
bent  on  pleasure  or  business,  and  offer  an  enjoyable  and 
convenient  mode  of  transportation.  There  are  several  fine 
bridges,  only  one  of  which,  however,  is  permanent.  The 
remainder  are  constructed  so  that  they  can  be  removed  when 
the  stream  freezes  over,  as  it  usually  does  in  November, 
when  the  teams  and  the  pedestrians  pass  over  on  the  ice  till 
April,  and  the  bed  of  the  river  is  again  the  scene  of  pleasure 
for  skating  and  sleighing.  The  Jockey  Club  of  Petersburg 
always  holds  its  racing  meetings  on  the  ice,  and  there  is  a 
fine  display  of  horses  and  horsemanship  every  day  during  the 
winter  months,  when  the  droskies  are  stored  and  sledges 
take  their  place. 

Although  the  river  is  the  source  of  great  pleasure,  it  is  the 
source  of  great  terror  also,  for  when  the  spring  thaw  comes, 
or  when  a  strong  northwesterly  wind  blows  the  water  in  from 
the  sea  for  several  days  in  succession,  there  is  always  dan- 
ger of  the  city  being  flooded,  for  its  length.tipon  the  river  is 
more  than  thirteen  miles,  and  the  streets  are  not  more  than 

77  ?£?£>?'? 

four  feet  above  the  water  at  mean  level.  A  northwesterly 
storm  often  raises  the  river  above  its  banks,  and  after  the 
thaw  the  flood  is  even  worse.  Great  damage  is  done  to 
property,  and  the  break-up  is  sometimes  attended  with  loss  of 
life.  Precautions  are  taken,  however,  and  when  a  flood  is 
coming  the  inhabitants  are  warned  by  the  firing  of  guns 
from  the  fortresses  along  the  banks,  in  sufficient  time  to 


100 


RUSSIA: 


make  preparations.  Ice  jams  are  removed  by  dynamite,  and 
the  army  is  ordered  out  with  axes  ;  but  there  is  no  way  to 
prevent  the  floods  that  come  with  the  winds. 

The  spring  break-up  generally  occurs  about  the  middle  of 
April,  when  all  crossing  upon  the  ice  is  stopped  by  the 
police,  and  the  ceremonies  of  opening  the  river  take  place. 
No  boat  is  allowed  to  be  launched  till  the  governor  of  the 
city  has  passed  up  and  down  the  entire  distance,  and  taken  a 
goblet  of  water  with  his  report  to  the  Emperor,  who  drinks 
it,  and  fills  the  silver  cup  with  gold  coins  for  the  poor.  Then 


INUNDATION  OF  PETERSBURG. 

the  governor  rows  over  the  course  again,  declares  the 
Neva  open  to  navigation,  and  all  the  inhabitants  who  have 
boats  or  can  hire  them,  follow  with  bands  of  music  by  day 
and  fireworks  by  night,  great  festivities  occurring  in  their 
houses  and  the  places  of  public  resort.  A  state  ball  is  some- 
times given  to  celebrate  the  opening  of  the  river. 

Another  interesting  state  ceremony  is  "  The  Benediction 
of  the  Waters,"  which  takes  place  on  the  6th  of  January.  A 
temple  of  ice  is  erected,  richly  decorated  with  ornaments 
from  the  palaces  and  the  churches,  and  dedicated  to  St. 
John  the  Baptist.  The  river  is  then  called  the  Jordan,  and 
religious  services  are  conducted  in  the  temple  by  the  Metro- 


THE  IMPERIAL  $TA£JLRS. 


101 


politan,  or  high  priest  of  the  nation-!1  Church,  attended  by 
the  Emperor  and  all  his  court.  The  ceremony  is  in  mem- 
ory of  the  baptism  of  Christ,  and  is  supposed  to  be  a  safe- 
guard against  dangers  from  the  floods,  as  well  as  to  benefit 
all  those  who  make  their  living  on  the  sea.  A  hole  is  cut  in 
the  ice  in  the  centre  of  the  temple  from  which  the  people 
are  baptized  by  sprinkling  by  the  priests,  and  nearly  every 


BLESS  YOU,  MY   CHILD. 

faithful  member  of  the  Greek  Church  in  the  city  goes  to  get 
his  share,  while  religious  devotees  often  plunge  into  the 
ice-cold  flood  through  the  hole.  If  they  catch  cold  and  die, 
as  they  often  do,  heaven  is  secured  for  them.  On  the  even- 
ing before  the  ceremony  all  good  Russians  make  crosses 
on  their  thresholds,  to  prevent  the  evil  spirits  that  are  driven 
from  the  water  from  taking  refuge  in  their  houses. 

One  of  the  whims  of  the  Empress  Elizabeth  was  to  marry 


102 


her  court>j&.S"teT,'a  dwarf,  to  a.  giantess  who  was  discovered  in 
one  of  the  interior  provinces,  and  erect  a  palace  of  ice  upon 
the  Neva,  in  which  she  compelled  them  to  spend  their  honey- 
moon. The  palace  was  handsomely  furnished  and  deco- 
rated for  this  ill-sorted  couple,  and  great  hilarity  followed. 
Balls  and  banquets  were  given,  and  all  the  nobles  of  the 
court  were  made  to  bring  gifts. 

Peter  the  Great  laid  out  the  capital  on  both  sides  of 
the  Neva,  in  his  comprehensive,  matchless  plan,  and  it 
is  the  only  city  in  the  world  of  size,  except  Washington, 
which  was  platted  before  the  erection  of  a  single  wall.  The 
streets  are  all  straight  and  at  right  angles  with  each  other, 
and  are  intersected  by  canals  for  the  purpose  of  aiding 
heavy  transportation.  This  idea  Peter  got  during  his  appren- 
ticeship in  Holland,  and  the  waterways  lead  from  the  great 
artery,  the  river,  like  veins  in  all  directions,  affording  easy 
and  crteap  carriage  for  heavy  merchandise,  between  the  har- 
bor and  the  warehouses  throughout  the  city.  No  heavy 
hauling  is  permitted  on  any  of  the  fashionable  thorough- 
fares. 


SOME  OF  THE  PALACES  AND  JEWELS. 


CHAPTER  X. 

SOME   OF   THE    PALACES   AND   JEWELS. 

The  Homes  of  the  Grand  Dukes  and  the  Czars  of  the  Past.— Peculi- 
arities of  the  Emperor  Paul  and  his  Tragic  End. — Potemkin's 
Romance. — The  Imperial  Crown  of  Russia,  and  the  Coronet  of  the 
Empress. — Story  of  the  Famous  Orloff  Diamond. 

ONE  may  look  in  vain  for  the  picturesque  in  the  architect- 
ure of  the  residence  or  business  portion  of  Petersburg.  No 
buildings  are  notable  for  originality  of  conception,  nor  has 
there  been  any  attempt  to  introduce  variety.  One  building 
follows  the  other,  mile  after  mile,  along  the  broad  streets, 
all  of  them  constructed  on  the  same  pattern  and  of  the  same 
height,  like  those  of  Paris.  The  eye  is  nowhere  gratified 
either  by  artistic  groupings  or  novel  effects.  The  entire 
city  is  a  monotony  of  five  or  six  story  stuccoed  palaces  or 
apartment-houses,  of  enormous  size,  there  being  no  distinc- 
tion between  those  used  for  dwellings  and  those  for  business 
purposes.  It  is  the  rule  for  the  banker  to  live  in  the  apart- 
ment above  his  counting-house,  for  the  lawyer  to  rent  the 
ground-floor  of  his  residence  for  a  shop,  and  for  the  merchant 
to  live  under  the  same  roof  with  his  stock  of  goods. 

There  are  one  or  two  variations  to  the  monotony  of  archi- 
tecture. One  is  known  as  the  Marble  Palace,  although  there 
is  very  little  marble  about  it,  scarcely  enough  to  justify  the 
name.  It  was  erected  by  Catherine  the  Great  for  one  of 
her  lovers  in  1770,  but  subsequently  fell  into  the  possession 
of  the  Grand  Duke  Constantine,  the  brother  of  the  late  Czar, 
whose  widow  still  resides  there  and  is  famous  for  the  value 
of  her  jewels.  It  is  an  imposing  building,  the  roof  and  win- 
dow-frames being  of  gilded  copper,  which  afford  a  very  strik- 
ing effect  as  they  reflect  the  rays  of  the  setting  sun. 


104 


RUSSIA  : 


Another  exception  to  the  prevailing  order  of  sameness  is 
the  Michael  Palace,  a  castellated  structure  built  by  the 
Emperor  Paul,  who  fortified  it  and  dedicated  it  to  the 
Archangel  Michael.  It  is  a  gloomy  pile,  and  an  architect- 
ural monstrosity,  the  exterior  being  loaded  with  all  sorts  of 
incongruous  ornaments  and  each  of  the  four  fronts  being  of 
an  entirely  different  design.  Over  the  principal  entrance 
are  inscribed  the  words  : 

"  ON  THY  HOUSE  WILL  THE  BLESSING  OF  THE  LORD  REST 
FOREVER." 


A  COUNTRY  VILLAGE. 


This  castle  was  a  whim  of  the  Emperor  Paul,  who  built  it 
in  the  most  extraordinary  manner,  having  five  thousand  men 
employed  upon  it  for  three  years  until  it  was  finished.  The 
more  quickly  to  dry  the  plastering  he  had  large  iron  plates 
made,  which  were  heated  red  hot  and  fastened  to  the  walls. 
The  palace  cost  10,000,000  roubles,  or  about  $7,000,000, 
but  if  any  sort  of  economy  or  common-sense  had  been  ap- 
plied in  the  construction  it  need  not  have  cost  more  than 
two  millions.  The  interior  is,  however,  very  fine,  some  of 
the  great  halls  being  entirely  of  Carrara  marble,  exquisitely 


SOME  OF  THE  PALACES  AND  JEWELS.  Ior 

carved  by  artists  imported  from   Florence  to  do  the  work. 
It  is  now  occupied  as  a  school  of  engineers  for  the  army. 

The  room  in  which  Paul  was  murdered  was  walled  up  for 
fifty  years,  but  is  now  used  as  a  chapel  for  the  students.  He 
was  as  eccentric  a  monarch  as  the  late  King  Ludwig  of 
Bavaria,  and  one  can  scarcely  read  the  accounts  of  his  con- 
duct  without  believing  that  he  was  insane.  He  inherited 
the  luxurious  tastes  of  his  mother,  Catherine  the  Great,  and 
sometimes  during  his  lucid  moments  showed  glimpses  of  her 
talent,  but  he  was  an  habitual  drunkard,  and  gave  way  to 
fits  of  passion  in  which  he  was  nothing  less  than  a  murder- 
ous maniac.  One  day  when  he  was  inspecting  his  incom- 
plete palace  the  skirts  of  his  coat  caught 
on  the  arms  of  a  chandelier  of  Venetian 
glass  that  had  been  manufactured  to 
order  at  Venice  upon  designs  of  his  own, 
and  had  only  been  unpacked  the  day 
before.  Although  it  cost  more  than 
100,000  roubles,  he  turned  around  and, 
instead  of  disengaging  himself,  smashed 
the  whole  thing  to  atoms  with  his  cane, 
at  the  same  time  nearly  murdering  his 

THE  EMPEROR  PAUL. 

escort,  who  remonstrated  with  him. 

His  friends  and  attaches  knew  when  his  passions  were 
coming  by  a  quivering  of  his  lips,  and  usually  fled  for  their 
lives.  He  brutally  killed  a  number  of  people  by  beating 
them  with  his  cane  or  sword,  and  once  cut  off  the  ears  of  his 
coachman  with  his  own  hands.  He  was  an  ugly-looking 
man,  and  exceedingly  sensitive  about  his  appearance,  sus- 
pecting that  every  one  who  laughed  or  smiled  in  his  presence 
was  making  fun  of  him ;  and  they  suffered  for  it. 

One  of  his  edicts  was  that  whenever  he  passed  along  the 
street  every  one  should  stop,  and  turning  their  faces  toward 
him,  bow  their  heads  till  he  went  by.  He  invented  forms  of 
dress  for  the  people  and  compelled  everybody  to  adopt  them. 
He  would  send  women  from  his  balls  to  prison  because  their 
gowns  were  not  cut  to  suit  him.  If  he  thought  a  woman 


I06  RUSSIA: 

appeared  in  his  presence  too  plainly  dressed,  he  would 
punish  her,  or  if  he  considered  another  too  richly  dressed, 
she  would  go  to  prison  for  that  oflence.  As  he  was  seldom 
in  the  same  mood,  and  as  what  pleased  him  one  day  would 
throw  him  into  a  furious  passion  the  next,  the  lords  and 
ladies  of  his  court  were  continually  in  a  state  of  painful 
uncertainty  whether  they  would  spend  the  next  day  or  month 
of  their  lives  in  a  palace  or  a  prison. 

One  evening  at  a  ball  he  saw  a  gentleman  whose  style  of 
dressing  his  hair  did  not  please  him,  so  Paul  called  an  offi- 
cer, and  sent  the  poor  victim  to  a  barber  with  orders  to  have 
him  brought  back  with  his  head  shaved.  He  issued  an  edict 
setting  forth  the  amount  of  money  travellers  might  carry 
with  them  when  they  left  Russia.  The  ordinary  man  might 
take  with  him  200  roubles  or  so,  according  to  the  length 
of  time  he  was  to  be  away ;  the  nobles  might  have  a  little 
more,  say  500  or  1000  roubles,  while  the  princes  might  take 
two  or  three  thousand  in  their  wallets.  The  theory  of  this 
edict  was  that  too  much  money  was  being  spent  out  of  the 
country.  Paul  wanted  his  subjects  to  spend  their  wealth  at 
home.  He  organized  his  army  on  the  same  whims.  He 
had  one  regiment  composed  of  1000  men,  every  one  of  whom 
was  pock-marked,  another  was  organized  of  men  with  large 
noses,  another  of  men  with  small  noses.  There  was  a  rule 
also  that  all  the  men  in  each  company  or  battalion  should 
be  of  exactly  the  same  stature,  the  same  complexion,  and 
the  same  color  of  the  eyes. 

The  manner  of  his  death  was  tragic,  for  his  brutality 
finally  wore  out  the  submissive  spirit  of  even  the  Russians, 
and  he  was  killed  by  the  officers  of  his  court.  The  day  of 
his  death  is  said  to  have  been  the  most  tranquil  he  had  spent 
since  he  ascended  the  throne.  He  wrote  a  letter  to  Napo- 
leon I.,  criticising  the  crown  of  his  hat,  as  it  appeared  in  a 
picture,  visited  an  orphan  asylum  where  there  were  800 
children  of  his  soldiers  boarding  at  his  cost,  and  walking  back 
to  the  Michael  Palace,  spent  an  hour  or  two  with  his  wife 
and  children,  who  usually  saw  very  little  of  him.  While  he 


SOME  OF  THE  PALACES  AND  JEWELS.  IO7 

sat  with  them,  Nicholas,  afterward  Czar,  then  four  years  old, 
asked  : 

"  Father,  why  are  you  called  Paul  the  First  ?  " 

"  Because  no  one  of  that  name  ever  ruled  in  Russia  before 
me,"  was  the  Czar's  reply. 

"  Then  I  shall  be  Nicholas  the  First,"  replied  the  boy. 

For  an  instant  the  Empress  feared  something  dreadful 
would  happen  to  the  child,  for  any  allusion  to  his  successor 
on  the  throne  usually  threw  Paul  into  a  raving  passion.  To 
her  surprise  he  simply  took  up  the  boy  and  kissed  him. 
Then  he  left  the  house  and  dined  with  his  mistress,  where 
he  spoke  of  Alexander  I.,  his  oldest  son  and  heir,  in  such  a 
manner  that  the  woman,  excusing  herself  from  his  presence 
for  a  moment,  sent  a  messenger  to  Alexander,  warning  him 
not  to  encounter  his  father  while  he  was  in  his  present  mood. 
As  Paul  left  the  house  he  remarked  that  people  would  be 
astonished  at  the  way  heads  would  fall  during  the  next  few 
days,  which  looks  as  if  he  had  some  knowledge  of  the  con- 
spiracy to  kill  him.  After  he  had  retired,  the  conspirators, 
who  were  mostly  officers  of  his  own  household,  outraged 
beyond  all  endurance  by  his  cruelty  to  them,  made  their  way 
to  his  chamber,  and  offered  him  the  choice  between  abdicat- 
ing the  throne  in  favor  of  his  son  Alexander,  or  death  at 
their  hands.  He  chose  death,  and  attempted  to  defend  him- 
self, having  an  arm  broken  and  one  eye  put  out  in  the  strug- 
gle that  ensued. 

Near  the  Michael  Palace  is  another  of  the  remarkable 
buildings  of  Petersburg,  and  one  which  is  considered  the 
handsomest  of  them  all.  This  is  called  the  Taurida  Palace, 
and  was  built  by  Catherine  the  Great,  for  the  most  famous 
of  her  lovers,  the  Prince  Potemkin.  It  was  here  that  he  is 
supposed  to  have  been  secretly  married  to  the  Empress. 
Potemkin's  life  was  a  romance,  and  he  owed  his  elevation  to 
a  feather.  During  the  revolution  which  Catherine  incited 
against  her  husband,  and  by  which  she  reached  the  throne, 
Potemkin  was  a  lieutenant  in  a  regiment  which  followed  her 
fortunes.  The  day  when  Catherine  came  out  to  take  com- 


lo8 


RUSSIA : 


mand  of  the  troops,  he,  seeing  that  she  had  no  feather  in  her 
hat,  left  his  place  in  the  ranks,  and  kneeling  before  her 
offered  his  own.  He  was  a  handsome  young  fellow,  and 
Catherine  was  as  much  taken  by  the  act  of  gallantry  as  was 
Elizabeth  of  England  by  the  courtliness  of  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh.  She  at  once  had  him  detailed  as  her  aide-de-camp ; 
he  soon  became  her  lover,  and  afterwards,  as  is  supposed, 
her  husband. 

She  made  him  Prince  Taurida,  and  built  him  this  palace, 
in  which  she  spent  a  good  part  of  her  time.  The  ball-room 
is  considered  the  finest  room  in  Russia,  being  of  different 


DEATH  OF  PAUL. 

colored  marbles,  and  lighted  by  20,000  wax  candles ;  and 
the  rest  of  the  palace  corresponds.  The  building  was  occu- 
pied by  Marie,  the  widow  of  Paul,  after  the  murder  of  her 
husband,  and  has  seen  many  royal  tenants,  but  is  now  used 
for  a  military  barracks. 

It  was  Count  Orloff,  another  of  Catherine's  favorites, 
whose  name  is  associated  with  the  great  diamond  which  sur- 
mounts the  imperial  sceptre,  and  is  a  worthy  ornament  for 
the  emblem  of  a  dominion  so  rich  and  extensive  as  that 
ruled  by  the  Czar.  The  Orloff  diamond,  the  first  in  size 
and  third  in  value  in  the  world,  once  formed  the  eye  of  an 
idol  in  a  temple  near  Seringham,  India.  Into  this  temple, 
as  the  story  goes,  a  French  adventurer  introduced  himself  in 


SOME  OF  THE  PALACES  AND  JEWELS.  IOg 

some  menial  capacity  for  the  purpose  of  stealing  the  treas- 
ure, which  he  did,  and  before  the  theft  was  discovered 
escaped  to  Malabar,  where  he  sold  it  to  a  ship  captain  for 
20,000  guineas.  The  captain  disposed  of  it  to  a  Jew  named 
Lazarus,  who  offered  it  for  sale  at  Petersburg.  Catherine 
refused  to  accept  his  terms,  so  he  carried  the  jewel  to  Am- 
sterdam, where  Count  Orloff  saw  it,  purchased  it  for  450,000 
pounds  sterling,  and  laid  it  in  the  lap  of  his  imperial  mis- 
tress the  next  time  he  saw  her.  The  stone  weighs  185 
carats,  and  is  valued  at  $2,399,410.  It  is  the  largest  of  all 
the  great  diamonds,  but  has  a  slight  flaw  or  black  stain. 
The  imperial  crown  of  all  the  Russias,  and  the  finest 


THE  ORLOFF  DIAMOND. 

and  costliest  of  all  in  Europe,  is  in  the  form  of  a  bish- 
op's mitre,  and  carries  on  its  crest  a  cross  composed  of 
five  of  the  most  beautiful  diamonds  ever  cut,  support- 
ing the  largest  ruby  in  the  world.  Eleven  great  diamonds 
in  a  foliated  arch,  rising  from  the  front  and  back  of 
the  crown,  support  this  cross  and  ruby,  and  on  either  side 
is  a  hoop  of  thirty-eight  vast  and  perfect  pearls,  whose 
value  is  simply  a  matter  of  conjecture — or  what  any  trillion- 
aire  would  be  willing  to  pay  for  them.  There  are  no  hand- 
somer ones  known.  The  domed  spaces  on  either  side  of 
these  arches  of  pearls  are  filled  with  leaf  work  of  silver, 
every  spray  being  thickly  set  with  large  diamonds,  and  the 
whole  underlaid  with  purple  velvet.  The  band  on  which 
the  crown  is  supported,  and  which  surrounds  the  brow  of  the 
Emperor,  is  studded  with  enormous  diamonds,  twenty-eight 


no 


RUSSIA  : 


in  number.  The  orb  carries  a  large  sapphire,  of  a  greenish 
color  and  elongated  form. 

The  coronet  of  the  Empress  is  said  to  be  the  most  beautk 
ful  and  valuable  mass  of  diamonds  ever  brought  together  in 
a  single  ornament.  The  four  largest  are  remarkable  for 
their  perfect  shape  and  color,  being  exactly  of  the  same 
weight  and  size,  so  that  even  an  expert  cannot  tell  one  from 
another.  There  are  eighteen  other  stones  of  a  slightly 
smaller  size  which  are  also  perfectly  matched,  the  whole 
being  set  in  a  pattern  and  surrounded  by  a  great  number  of 
stones,  any  one  of  which  would  be  a  prize  to  its  owner. 

Besides  these  costly  treasures,  there  are  a  number  of 
other  ornaments  fit  to  bear  them  company.  There  is  a 
necklace  which  the  Czarina  sometimes  wears,  which  is  com- 
posed of  twenty-two  of  the  largest  diamonds  known,  and 
another  of  fifteen  stones,  even  larger.  The  famous  plume 
of  Suveroff,  an  aigrette  composed  entirely  of  diamonds,  was 
presented  by  the  Sultan  of  Turkey,  as  a  price  of  peace,  to 
General  Suveroif,  and  by  him  transferred  to  the  crown. 
Another  famous  jewel  in  the  collection  is  known  to  lapidaries 
as  "The  Shah."  It  is  along,  peculiar  shaped  crystal,  pre- 
sented to  the  Emperor  of  Russia  by  the  Shah  Mirza,  also  as 
a  price  of  peace.  It  has  Persian  characters  engraved  upon 
it.  There  is  also  a  necklace,  composed  of  three  hundred 
truly  imperial  pear-shaped  pearls,  several  strands  of  which 
hang  over  the  breast  of  the  Empress  like  a  net  when  she 
wears  them,  and  are  of  enormous  value.  Among  the  collec- 
tion there  are  also  several  decorations  worn  by  the  Czar  on 
occasions  of  great  ceremony,  the  %  collar  and  badge  of  St. 
Andrew,  the  order  of  St.  George,  and  numerous  other  dec- 
orations of  great  value  presented  to  the.  rulers  of  Russia  from 
time  to  time  by  their  contemporary  sovereigns.  Several 
years  ago  the  Czar  placed  an  order  with  the  leading  jeweller 
of  Paris  to  furnish  him  the  finest  necklace  of  emeralds  that 
could  be  obtained.  The  whole  earth  has  since  been  searched 
for  stones,  and  the  collection,  set  in  diamonds,  was  presented 
to  the  Czarina  as  a  Christmas  gift  in  1887. 


SOME  OF  THE  PALACES  AND  JEWELS.  j  j  T 

An  American  lady  writing  from  St.  Petersburg  thus  de- 
scribes a  court  reception  at  the  Winter  Palace  in  1888  : 

"  We  women  folk  are  accustomed  (through  ignorance,  I  suppose)  to 
think  and  speak  of  Russia  as  a  semi-barbarous  country.  It  is  in  some 
respects ;  but  in  others  it  is  the  most  splendid  country — with  the  excep- 
tion of  our  own — in  the  world,  and  St.  Petersburg  is  the  most  interesting 
of  all  European  cities.  Through  the  introductions  we  brought  with  us, 
we  have  been  enabled  to  obtain  entree  to  the  presence  of  royalty  and  see 
the  interior  of  the  finest  of  all  the  palaces.  It  was  a  bitter  cold  day 
when  we  drove  in  a  gorgeous  sleigh  to  the  Winter  Palace — which  was 
like  a  fairy  picture  in  the  fading  light  without,  and  illumined  within  with 
the  brilliancy  of  thousands  of  candles — to  attend  a  court  reception. 
The  effect  of  the  light  on  the  snow  and  upon  the  gay  equipages  of  the 
numerous  guests  was  indescribable.  We  approached  the  Empress 
through  3,000  officials.  First  through  superb  state  departments,  each 
blazing  with  a  thousand  wax  tapers  and  gorgeous  with  priceless  hang- 
ings, malachite  pillars,  works  of  art,  and  tropical  flowers  and  ferns. 
The  sight  was  worth  the  journey  from  New  York  to  Russia.  The 
floors  were  things  of  beauty,  inlaid  with  ebony  and  rosewood  and  ivory. 

"  As  we  waited  for  our  turn  I  had  a  good  opportunity  to  see,  and  I 
made  much  of  it.  At  last  we  entered  the  throne  room,  and  there,  sur- 
rounded by  a  sea  of  splendor  stood  the  Empress,  herself  a  moving  mass 
of  diamonds.  She  was  the  most  dazzling  sight  of  all.  On  her  head 
was  a  crown  once  worn  by  the  great  Elizabeth.  It  was  the  first  time  I 
had  seen  a  real  crown  on  royalty,  for  the  diamond  tiara  worn  by  Queen 
Victoria  last  summer  at  her  reception  was  not  a  crown  except  in  name. 
Mrs.  Astor  used  to  wear  as  fine  a  one.  But  this  one  on  the  imperial 
head  was  worthy  to  adorn  the  Empress  of  all  the  Russias.  Describe  it  ? 
No.  I  only  saw  millions  of  colored  rays  and  white  sparks  of  light 
emitted  from  it  at  every  motion  of  the  royal  person.  The  necklace  was 
made  from  what  was  left  over  of  the  crown.  It  reached  from  her  neck 
to  her  waist,  and  had  rubies,  sapphires,  and  diamonds  enough  in  it  to 
have  supplied  a  thousand  ordinary  royal  necklaces.  The  imperial 
orders  worn  on  her  breast  contained  all  the  gems  of  the  East.  They 
scintillated  with  light,  and  that  is  all  I  can  say  of  them.  The  stuff  of 
her  gown  was  emerald  velvet,  with  a  train  of  white  velvet  embroidered 
with  enough  gold  to  stock  a  mine,  and  bordered  with  real  gold  balls. 
The  front  of  the  gown  was  ornamented  with  ropes  of  linked  pink  coral, 
set  in  diamonds  and  fastened  at  intervals.  Never  saw  I  human  being 
thus  arrayed.  Solomon  might  have  put  on  more,  but  I  do  not  believe  it. 
She  was  enough  of  herself  to  take  the  breath  out  of  a  body,  but  sur- 
rounded as  she  was  by  grand  duchesses,  each  one  ablaze  with  jewels 


112  RUSSIA: 

worth  a  kingdom,  she  was  the  most  wonderful  sight  I  ever  witnessed  in 
my  life.     1  did  not  know  a  mortal  could  look  so  magnificent. 

"  The  position  of  her  sister,  the  Princess  of  Wales,  is  almost  obscure 
as  compared  to  the  peerless  destiny  of  this  Empress  of  all  the  Russias, 
and  if  the  war  party  succeeds,  Empress  of  Asia  as  well.  The  officials 
in  their  semi-barbarous  grandeur  numbered  hundreds  upon  hundreds, 
but  I  paid  no  attention  to  them ;  the  Empress  and  the  palace  were  what 
I  went  to  see,  and  the  sight  has  thrown  me  into  a  peculiar  mental  con- 
dition. My  less  fascinated  companion,  who  had  been  to  court  before, 
took  my  breath  away  from  me  by  remarking  that  she  pitied  the  poor 
woman.  Why  ?  Because  she  will  not  find  anything  new  in  heaven  in 
the  way  of  jewels  or  surroundings.  How  about  peace  of  mind?  Of 
that  indeed  I  think  she  stands  in  great  need  now,  poor  thing ! " 

A  letter  to  a  New  York  paper  says : 

"  No  woman  in  the  world  wears  so  many  jewels  as  the  Czarina.  Even 
her  sister,  who,  when  she  comes  to  the  English  throne  will  wear  the 
Kohinoor,  will  not  have  such  jewels  or  wear  so  many  of  them  at  one 
time.  The  Russian  crown  jewels  are  something  simply  fabulous.  It  is 
to  be  doubted  whether  any  one  outside  of  that  country  has  any  definite 
conception  of  the  extent  of  the  Romanoff  possessions  in  the  way  of 
precious  stones.  The  Russians  still  retain  their  old  barbaric  love  of 
splendor,  and  when  the  Empress  shows  herself  she  is  a  vision  of 
unmatched  gorgeousness.  She  is  one  of  the  few  monarchs  who  still 
make  a  practice  of  wearing  a  crown  on  great  occasions.  There  are 
several  she  uses,  but  the  favorite  one  is  that  made  and  worn  by  the 
great  Elizabeth  of  Russia,  and  which  is  loaded  with  gems  of  great  price. 
The  pearls  alone  are  said  to  be  valued  at  something  like  80,000  roubles. 
When  the  Empress  danced  the  other  night  with  the  Austrian  Ambassa- 
dor, causing  the  significant  fact  to  be  flashed  around  the  world,  over 
mountains  and  under  oceans,  before  morning,  she  was  arrayed  in  a 
fashion  of  which  Solomon  never  dreamed  nor  Balkts  ever  saw.  On  her 
head  was  the  Elizabethan  crown.  Her  gown  was  of  heavy  white 
watered  silk,  with  a  white  velvet  train,  embroidered  heavily  in  gold,  and 
hung  about  all  the  edges  with  gold  balls.  The  front  of  the  gown  was 
ornamented  with  ropes  of  linked  pink  coral,  set  in  diamonds  and  fast- 
ened at  intervals  to  the  dress.  The  necklace  she  wore  contained  over  a 
thousand  stones  and  reached  nearly  from  neck  to  waist — a  mass  of 
rubies,  sapphires,  and  diamonds — a  veritable  breastplate  of  gems. 
Besides  this  she  wore  on  her  breast  about  half  of  her  orders — she  has 
over  forty  in  all — and  they  too  were  flashing  with  precious  stones.  Her 
rings,  bracelets,  and  earrings  were  all  equally  magnificent,  and  when  she 
danced  it  was  like  the  northern  lights  in  a  misty  sky;  a  myriad  flashing 


SOME  OF  THE  PA  LA  CES  AND  JE  WELS.  1 1  $ 

rays  of  all  hues  glittering  and  changing  with  every  movement.  Yet  the 
Czarina,  when  she  goes  back  to  her  early  home  in  Denmark,  is  absolutely 
simple  in  her  costumes,  wearing  for  the  most  part  print  frocks  in  the 
morning,  and  a  plain  straw  hat  with  merely  a  ribbon  around  it  for  her 
walks  and  drives.  As  the  Danish  Princess  she  had  no  jewels,  and  very 
few  of  even  the  simplest  gowns,  for  the  royal  house  of  Denmark  is  poor, 
and  neither  she  nor  the  Princess  of  Wales  knew  anything  of  luxury 
until  they  married." 


H4  RUSSIA: 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE    FAMOUS    VOSPITATELNEY   DOM. 

Where  Fatherless  Babies  are  cared  for. — Twenty-four  thousand  Found- 
lings.— The  Theatres  and  other  Places  of  Amusement. — Mer- 
chants' Exchange. — Russian  Methods  of  Doing  Business. — Peculiar 
System  in  the  Banking  Houses. 

ONE  of  the  most  important  public  establishments  in 
Petersburg  is  known  as  the  "  Vospitatelney  Dom,"  a  Found- 
lings' Home,  and  those  who  are  familiar  with  such  institu- 
tions in  the  United  States  will  be  astonished  at  its  dimen- 
sions and  the  extent  of  its  usefulness.  The  building  occu- 
pies 26,325  square  fathoms  of  ground,  and  last  year  over 
7000  fatherless  babies  were  received  under  its  sheltering 
wings,  from  a  city  of  seven  hundred  thousand  inhabitants. 
As  this  is  one  baby  for  each  one  hundred  of  the  population, 
counting  all  who  appear  in  the  census,  and  about  nineteen 
daily  for  every  one  of  the  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  days 
in  the  year,  it  will  be  recognized  not  only  as  a  pretty  high 
average,  but  as  an  index  to  the  morals  of  the  people.  It 
should  be  said,  however,  that  it  is  claimed  that  girls  who 
have  forgotten  to  get  married  come  to  Petersburg  from  all 
over  the  Empire,  knowing  that  their  babies  here  will  receive 
excellent  care,  and  grow  up  among  much  greater  comforts 
than  they  would  know  if  they  remained  with  their  mothers. 
It  is  also  claimed  that  many  legitimate  children  are  brought 
here  by  mothers  to  whom  they  were  not  welcome,  so  as  to  be 
rid  of  their  care ;  but  it  is  nevertheless  the  fact  that  the  paren- 
tage of  nine-tenths  of  the  children  is  unknown,  and  no  ques- 
tions are  asked  by  the  nuns  who  conduct  the  institution. 

Children  are  received  at  the  gates  at  all  hours  of  the  day 
or  night.  All  a  woman  has  to  do  is  to  deposit  the  little  half- 


THE  FAMOUS  VOSP1TA  TELNE  Y  DOM.  i  j  5 

orphan  in  a  basket  always  kept  in  the  vestibule  for  the  pur- 
pose, and  pull  a  bell  which  summons  an  attendant  to  take 
the  baby.  No  attempt  is  made  to  recall  the  mother,  or  who- 
ever left  the  child,  but  the  waif  is  taken  in  and  cared  for. 
The  mother  may  come  around  the  next  morning  and  apply 
for  employment  as  wet  nurse,  *  as  many  of  them  do,  and 
usually  gets  her  own  baby  to  take  care  of,  for  the  good- 
hearted  nuns  always  let  them  take  their  pick  of  the  new 
arrivals,  and  it  is  an  unnatural  mother  who  does  not  recog- 
nize her  own.  Often  a  tag  is  attached '  to  the  neck  of  the 


FOUNDLINGS'  HOME  AND  ORPHAN  ASYLUM. 


child,  or  a  paper  pinned  to  its  clothing,  telling  what  its  name 
is,  but  if  there  is  no  such  information,  the  nuns  call  him 
after  some  saint,  give  him  a  bath,  dress  him  in  coarse 
but  clean  garments,  put  a  rubber  band  around  his  neck  with 
a  tag  attached,  on  which  is  a  number,  and  then  notify  the 
book-keeper  of  all  the  circumstances  attending  the  arrival. 
These  are  noted  down  on  the  books,  together  with  the  name 
given  to  the  child  ;  and  any  clothing  found  upon  it  is 
bundled  up,  labelled  with  the  youngster's  number,  and 
stowed  away  for  purposes  of  identification.  Those  who 
have  a  cross  around  their  necks  are  accepted  as  having 


Il6  RUSSIA: 

received  the  rites  of  the  Church,  but  those  who  have  not  are 
sent  at  once  to  the  priest  to  be  baptized  before  they  get 
their  suppers. 

There  are  24,000  children  in  the  institution,  which  is 
lower  than  the  average ;  and  there  is  a  similar  hospital  at 
Moscow,  in  which  are  eighteen  thousand,  increasing  at  the 


"BOUND  OUT." 

rate  of  over  three  thousand  a  year.  A  Lying-in  Asylum  is 
connected  with  both  of  the  homes,  and  its  beds  are  always 
full  of  poor  girls. 

What  becomes  of  the  children  ?  Many  are  adopted  by 
childless  families  ;  there  is  scarcely  a  day  that  several  bright- 
eyed  little  ones  are  not  taken  out  for  this  purpose  ;  others,  as 
they  reach  the  age  when  they  can  be  made  useful,  are  dis- 
posed of  as  servants  in  the  families  of  the  nobles,  and  the 


THE  FAMOUS  VOSPITA TELNE Y  DOM.  nj 

poor  things  have  a  hard  time  of  it,  I  expect,  for  they  are 
"bound  out."  Hundreds  of  them  go  out  every  year  to  work 
in  factories  ;  the  boys  are  educated  for  the  army  ;  many  of  the 
girls  are  trained  for  nurses  in  the  hospitals,  and  lots -of  them 
are  saved  by  death  from  a  worse  fate.  The  mortality  in  the 
institution  is  very  large,  although  every  possible  care  is  taken 
of  the  children,  and  they  are  much  better  off  than  in  the 
homes  where  they  were  born.  This  institution  was  founded 
by  Catherine  the  Great,  who  had  a  number  of  illegitimate 
children  herself,  and  had  a  kindly  heart  towards  the  un- 
fortunate from  any  cause. 

Catherine  founded  another  hospital,  which  stands  on  the 
banks  of  the  Neva,  and  is  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  land- 
marks of  the  river,  being  situated  at  the  head  of  the  wide 
curve  where  its  vast  proportions  can  be  seen  from  all  direc- 
tions. It  has  a  frontage  of  six  hundred  feet,  is  four  hundred 
feet  wide,  and  has  650  beds,  which  are  free  to  those  who 
cannot  afford  to  pay.  Those  who  are  not  paupers  are 
charged  a  small  entrance  fee,  and  are  required  to  pay  such 
a  sum  weekly  as  corresponds  with  their  accommodations. 
There  are  several  other  fine  hospitals,  with  an  average  of 
4,250  patients,  all  cared  for  by  Sisters  of  Charity. 

There  are  five  public  theatres  in  the  city,  with  any  number 
of  cafes  chantants,  and  other  less  reputable  places  of  amuse- 
ment. The  Imperial  Theatre,  in  the  park  in  which  the  great 
monument  to  Catherine  stands,  and  which  the  private  palace 
of  the  Czar  overlooks,  is  a  fine  building,  seating  3000 
people,  and  is  occupied  each  winter  by  one  of  the  best 
Italian  opera  companies  in  Europe.  The  Russians  are 
famous  for  their  musical  taste,  and  are  satisfied  with  nothing 
but  the  best  that  can  be  obtained.  A  large  sum  is  devoted 
by  the  government  each  year  as  a  subsidy  to  the  opera,  and 
the  high  prices  charged  are  sufficient  to  command  the  best 
talent.  All  the  great  singers  of  the  last  and  the  present 
centuries  have  appeared  here  in  opera ;  and  one  who  reads 
their  biographies  will  learn  of  the  enthusiasm  and  royal  gifts 


H8  RUSSIA: 

with  which  they  have  been  received.  The  finest  jewels  Patti 
has  were  presented  to  her  in  Petersburg. 

Attached  to  the  theatre  is  a  school,  also  under  the  patron- 
age of  the  government  and  liberally  subsidized,  for  the  educa- 
tion of  singers,  actresses,  and  ballet-dancers,  there  being  as 
many  as  a  thousand  pupils  each  winter  in  the  various  classes. 
During  the  summer  the  corps-de-ballet,  with  much  of  the 
scenery  and  stage  machinery,  is  transferred  to  an  open  air 
theatre  on  one  of  the  islands  of  the  Neva,  where  spectacu- 
lar presentations  are  given  with  the  greatest  magnificence. 
These  performances  are  also  subsidized  by  the  government, 
which  does  everything  possible  for  the  entertainment  of  the 
people,  but  very  little  for  their  education.  Think  of  a  policy 
of  statesmanship,  a  theory  of  political  economy,  that  subsi- 
dizes the  ballet,  and  prohibits  free  public  schools ! 

Nowhere  in  the  world  are  ballets  and  kindred  spectacles 
given  with  greater  magnificence  than  in  Petersburg,  and  the 
summer  prices  are  merely  nominal.  I  saw,  at  the  summer 
theatre  to  which  I  have  alluded,  the  spectacle  of  "  The  Last 
Days  of  Pompeii "  given  in  the  presence  of  eight  or  ten 
thousand  spectators,  in  a  style  that  surpassed  anything  I  had 
seen  at  the  grand  opera  houses  of  Paris  or  Vienna,  or  at  the 
Alhambra  in  London.  There  were  a  thousand  or  more 
people  upon  the  stage,  with  many  horses  and  animals  from 
the  Zoological  Gardens,  with  costumes  beyond  criticism,  and 
scenic  effects  that  were  simply  superb.  I  also  saw  "  Excel- 
sior "  given  in  similar  style,  with  elephants,  lions,  camels, 
and  other  animals  on  the  stage,  and  a  full  company  of  cav- 
alrymen. The  cost  of  witnessing  this  performance,  to  those 
who  stood  on  their  feet,  was  thirty  copecks,  less  than  fifteen 
cents ;  while  the  best  seats,  under  the  footlights,  were  only 
fifty  cents.  Second-rate  seats  were  thirty-five,  and  third-rate 
twenty  cents,  but  only  about  one-fourth  of  the  audience  were 
seated.  The  remainder  stood  in  an  arena  behind  the  seats, 
with  an  inclined  plane  for  a  floor,  so  raised  that  everybody 
could  see. 

Attached  to  this  summer  theatre,  and  others  like  it  in  the 


THE  FAMOUS  VOSPITATELNEY  DOM. 


same  neighborhood,  were  cafe's,  billiard-rooms,  bowling-alleys, 
and  other  forms  of  amusement,  which  are  crowded  every 
evening,  for  the  summers  of  Petersburg  are  very  short,  and 
the  populace  make  the  most  of  them  during  the  season  of 
two  months  and  a  half.  The  islands  are  covered  with 
cafes  chantants,  concert-halls,  dance-houses,  and  low  resorts, 
which  during  the  summer  months  are  always  thronged  with 
the  lower  classes.  Several  lines  of  street  cars  run  to  them 
from  the  city,  and  every  convenience  is  offered  for  the  gratifi- 
cation of  the  low  tastes  of  the  common  people. 

The  Marie  Theatre,  so  called  from  its  founder,  the  Em- 
press Marie,  the  wife  of  Paul,  is  the  home  of  the  native  tal- 
ent, operas  and  plays  in  the  Russian  language  being  given 


EH/lETt 
ITEPEAl  OTKPblTON  CilEHOfl 

N2  188 
23  IK>JIH  1887  r. 

UtHa  1  py6. 


THEATRE  TICKET. 

exclusively.  The  company  is  recruited  fro'm  the  school 
at  the  opera  house,  and  the  theatre  is  managed  by  the  same 
direction,  being  also  subsidized  by  the  government.  At  the 
Alexander  Theatre,  comedy  is  given  exclusively,  in  all  lan- 
guages, some  of  the  fine  old  English  plays  being  occasion- 
ally presented,  although  the  greater  part  of  the  performances 
are  in  Russian  and  French.  There  is  usually  a  comic  opera 
company  engaged  at  the  Bouffe  Theatre  during  the  winter, 
with  French  performers,  and  it  is  one  of  the  most  liberally 
patronized  houses  in  town,  although  under  private  manage- 
ment. Several  other  minor  theatres  supply  any  needed 
entertainment  during  the  season. 

But  the  most  enjoyable  amusement  in  Petersburg  is  driv- 
ing in  droskies  during  the  summer  over  the  fine  roads,  and 
in  sledges  during  the  winter  season  over  the  snow  or  ice  of 
the  Neva,  The  handsomest  residences  front  the  river  upon 


I2O  XUSSJTA: 

either  the  English  or  the  Imperial  quays.  The  former  is 
lined  with  royal  palaces,  the  latter,  a  little  farther  along,  is 
the  fashionable  residence  street,  and  upon  it  the  United 
States  Legation  is  situated. 

I  may  say  here  that  our  minister  to  Russia,  Mr.  G.  V.  N. 
Lothrop  of  Detroit,  is  one  of  the  most  popular,  and  highly 
esteemed  of  the  diplomatic  corps,  both  because  of  his  ability 
and  for  his  personal  traits.  He  is  a  man  of  genial  dignity, 
and  although  somewhat  past  the  age  when  men  seek  honors 
in  the  diplomatic  service,  is  rounding  out  a  brilliant  career 
at  home  by  receiving  the  homage  he  is  entitled  to  at  one  of 
the  finest  courts  of  Europe. 

Many  of  the  residences  along  the  quay  are  of  enormous 
size,  and  might  shelter  an  army.  The  entertainments  given 
in  them  during  the  winter  vie  with  the  splendor  of  those  of 
the  palaces,  for  there  is  no  city  in  Europe  where  the  homes 
of  the  rich  are  equipped  with  such  sumptuousness,  nor  where 
so  great  an  effort  is  made  in  the  direction  of  display. 
Whether  a  rich  Russian  is  at  home  or  in  London  or  in 
Paris,  his  balls  and  dinners  are  proverbial  for  their  elegance  ; 
and  he  has  natural  gifts  for  entertainment.  But  it  is  in 
Petersburg  that  the  people  are  seen  at  their  best,  for  the  ri- 
valry among  the  leading  families  is  great,  and  each  tries  to 
outstrip  the  other  in  the  introduction  of  novelties  in  hospi- 
tality and  in  parlor  spectacles.  I  was  shown  a  palace  in 
which  the  floors  were  once  flooded  with  water,  frozen  and 
decorated  with  evergreens  for  a  skating  party  given  indoors 
by  the  light  of  thousands  of  wax  tapers.  All  ladies  and 
gentlemen  in  Russia  skate  as  well  as  they  dance,  and  this 
evening  the  rule  was  for  the  ladies  to  appear  in  white  furs, 
and  the  gentlemen  in  dark.  After  the  skating  was  over,  the 
guests  were  led  to  the  supper-rooms  of  the  house,  where  they 
threw  ofl  their  wraps,  and  sat  down  in  ball  dresses  to  a 
sumptuous  banquet. 

During  the  winter  a  portion  of  the  river  is  always  kept 
clear  of  snow  for  skating,  just  as  the  parks  in  summer  are 
kept  clear  of  leaves  and  rubbish,  and  the  streets  of  dirt,  by 


THE  FA  MO  US  VOSPlTA  TELNE  Y  DOM.  j  3  j 

the  police  ;  and  of  late  the  ice  has  been  illuminated  by  elec- 
tricity. Gay  crowds  of  people  gather  each  evening,  the 
young  on  skates,  and  the  elderly  on  cushioned  chairs  set  on 
runners,  with  bands  of  military  music  to  entertain  them. 
As  the  nights  are  long  in  winter,  the  sun  setting  at  three  or 
four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  at  midwinter  not  rising 
till  nine  or  ten  in  the  morning,  such  methods  of  killing  time 
are  very  popular.  The  shops  do  not  open  until  nine  o'clock, 
and  it  is  useless  to  seek  a  business  man  at  his  office  before 


THE  DATCHAS. 

eleven.  Then  he  leaves  for  his  home  at  four,  and  devotes 
the  intervening  time  to  gambling,  gayety,  and  rest. 

The  fashionable  drives  during  the  summer  are  on  the 
islands  of  the  Neva,  which  are  laid  out  in  parks  and  inter- 
spersed with  fine  residences,  or  "  datchas,"  as  they  are  called, 
villas  of  the  Italian  style  or  Swiss  chalets.  Some  of  them 
are  occupied  the  entire  year  by  their  owners,  but  the  greater 
part  are  used  only  in  the  summer  by  the  wealthy  residents. 

Conspicuous  about  the  city  are  peculiar-looking  towers, 
rising  far  above  the  roofs  of  the  houses,  and  crowned  with 
flagstaffs,  to  which  tackle  is  attached.  These  are  ancient 
institutions  still  retained  as  lookouts  for  watchmen,  who, 


!22  RUSSJA: 

when  a  fire-alarm  is  given,  run  up  a  red  ball  by  daylight  and 
a  red  lantern  at  night,  with  a  system  of  signals  by  which  it 
may  be  known  where  the  danger  exists.  It  is  a  clumsy  and 
inefficient  affair,  and  is  about  the  only  feature  of  their  city 
government  in  which  the  Russians  have  not  introduced 
modern  improvements.  They  have  electric  lights  and  tele- 
phones, but  this  system,  of  fire-alarms  has  been  used  since 
the  time  of  Peter  the  Great. 

The  telephone  is  in  common  use.  One  can  find  instru- 
ments in  every  hotel  and  most  of  the  offices  and  stores  about 
the  city,  and  this  convenience  is  already  extensive  and 
rapidly  increasing  in  private  houses.  The  electric  light  is 
also  popular,  and  has  been  introduced  into  many  of  the 
public  buildings  and  palaces.  There  are  over  3000  lights 
in  the  Winter  Palace  alone.  The  streets  are  lighted  with 
gas  generally,  and  are  as  brilliant  as  those  of  Paris ;  while 
electric  lamps  are  used  in  front  of  the  hotels,  theatres,  res- 
taurants, and  other  places  of  resort.  The  summer  gardens 
are  also  hung  with  them.  The  streets  are  not  disfigured 
with  telegraph  poles,  but  the  wires  are  strung  on  brackets 
attached  to  the  walls  of  the  houses.  As  the  brackets  are  of 
ornamental  patterns  they  do  not  mar  the  architecture. 

A  very  handsome  effect  can  be  seen  nightly  at  the  Impe- 
rial Exchange  or  Bourse,  which  is  a  noble  building  of  pure 
Grecian  architecture,  and  contains  a  large  hall,  170  by  120 
feet  in  size,  where  the  brokers  meet  each  day  and  speculate, 
as  on  the  Stock  Exchange  in  New  York  or  the  Board  of 
Trade  in  Chicago,  in  both  financial  securities,  agricultural 
products,  and  oil.  Stately  flights  of  steps  lead  from  the  quay 
to  this  edifice,  and  upon  a  wide  terrace  of  marble  rise  two 
massive  columns,  100  feet  high,  decorated  with  the  prows  of 
ships,  in  honor  of  Mercury,  and  each  surmounted  by  three 
statues  of  Atlantis,  that  support  hollow  globes,  containing  a 
large  number  of  electric  lights  so  arranged  that  the  rays  can 
be  concentrated  upon  the  noble  facade  of  the  building. 

Most  of  the  banking  houses  and  the  offices  of  the  whole- 
sale merchants  are  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Exchange. 


THE  FAMOUS  VOSPITA  TELNE  Y  DOM.  l  2 3 

The  system  of  doing  wholesale  business  is  somewhat  pe- 
culiar. A  wholesale  dealer  in  dry  goods  or  crockery  or, 
groceries  has  his  office  and  a  line  of  samples  near  the 
Exchange,  and  there  receives  his  customer,  who  buys  by 
sample,  his  orders  being  filled  at  the  warehouse  in  a  distant 
part  of  the  city.  There  is  no  long  list  of  salesmen  to  be 
paid,  only  the  proprietor  and  his  one  or  two  assistants 
receive  the  customer  as  he  calls,  and  if  he  is  a  large  buyer 
they  invite  him  into  a  drawing-room,  like  that  of  a  private 
residence,  adjoining  the  office,  for  a  chat  and  a  cup  of  tea. 
Then  the  samples  are  sent  for,  the  bargain  made  while  sit- 
ting around  the  samovar.  The  public  see  only  a  half  dozen 
persons  or  so  representing  the  house.  There  may  be  a 
dozen  book-keepers  and  corresponding  clerks  somewhere 
on  the  premises,  and  at  the  warehouse  may  be  a  hundred  or 
more  porters,  but  the  buyer  never  sees  them. 

The  banking  houses  are  usually  upon  the  second  or  the 
third  floor  of  a  building,  and  whoever  has  business  is  invited 
into  a  handsomely  furnished  drawing-room,  and  invited  to 
take  a  chair  and  read  the  morning  paper  or  the  last  review. 
Pretty  soon  the  banker  or  one  of  his  clerks  appears,  to  see 
what  is  wanted.  If  you  wish  to  have  a  draft  cashed  the 
banker  or  his  clerk  retires  again,  and  after  awhile  returns 
with  the  papers  drawn  for  your  signature.  Then,  as  you 
return  it  to  him,  he  hands  you  a  memorandum  made  out  in 
duplicate,  one  copy  to  be  retained  by  you,  and  the  other  to 
be  handed  the  cashier,  who  is  a  uniformed  personage,  sit- 
ting in  an  iron  cage,  and  does  nothing  but  handle  the  money. 
The  cashier  in  a  Russian  bank  is  not  a  person  of  as  much 
importance  as  the  man  who  has  a  similar  title  in  an  Ameri- 
can bank.  He  simply  looks  after  the  cash,  is  a  sort  of  pay- 
ing and  receiving  teller  combined,  and  his  room  is  entirely 
distinct  from  the  rest  of  the  bank.  He  enters  his  cage  at 
the  opening  of  office  hours,  and  does  not  leave  it  till  the 
bank  closes. 

Bank  cashiers  and  cashiers  for  the  larger  stores  and 
business  houses  are  not  employed  by  the  banker  or  mer- 


I24 


RUSSIA  : 


chant,  but  are  furnished  by  the  "  artel,"  a  sort  of  Guarantee 
Society,  from  its  list  of  members.  The  bank  applies  to  the 
director  of  the  "  artel "  for  a  cashier,,  and  a  man  is  sent 
him.  Sometimes' he  has  a  different  man  this  week  or  this 
month  from  that  he  had  last.  ^He  has  no  option  in  the 
matter,  except  where  he  applies  for  a  particular  person,  and 
is  assigned  him.  The  Guarantee  or  Trust  Company  becomes 
responsible  for  the  honesty  and  the  accuracy  of  the  cashier, 
whose  wages  are  paid  to  the  company  and  not  to  the  man. 
But  while  he  is  in  the  bank  he  is  the  master  of  its  funds. 
The  president  himself,  nor  the  sole  proprietor,  cannot  get  at 
the  cash-box  nor  the  vaults  as  long  as  he  is  a  patron  of  the 
society.  Every  dollar  that  is  paid  into  the  bank  goes  into 
the  cage,  and  not  a  dollar  can  be  taken  out  without  a  check, 
which  the  cashier  keeps  as  his  voucher.  He  issues  certifi- 
cates of  deposit  to  the  depositor,  and  a  duplicate  to  the 
bank,  from  which  the  books  are  posted.  The  owner  of  the 
institution  can  find  out  from  his  books  what  is  in  the  vaults, 
but  he  cannot  count  it  until  the  Trust  Company  is  relieved 
of  responsibility. 

If  financial  gentlemen  who  read  this  will  think  over  the 
Russian  plan,  I  believe  they  will  decide  that  it  is  a  good 
one.  At  least  it  removes  all  temptation  from  tellers  and 
other  employe's,  and  the  funds  of  depositors  as  well  as  the 
stockholders  are  insured.  No  bank  president  nor  cashier 
nor  other  employe  can  rob  the  institution  without  the  co- 
operation of  the  Trust  Company  ;  and  the  shifting  of  cashiers, 
like  the  shifting  of  policemen,  prevents  collusion. ' 


EDUCA  TION  IN  RUSSIA. 


125 


CHAPTER  XII. 

EDUCATION    IN    RUSSIA. 

The  Small  Proportion  of  the  Population  that  can  Read  or  Write. — 
The  Policy  of  the  Government  keeps  the  People  in  Ignorance. — 
Superior  Universities  but  few  Common  Schools. — Every  Facility 
for  Amusement  of  the  People  but  not  for  their  Education. — Schools 
of  Fine  Arts,  Science,  and  Industry. — The  Imperial  Library  and 
Museums. 

THE  stranger  in  Petersburg,  when  he  takes  his  first  walk 
on  the  Nevski  Prospect,  feels  an  irresistible  curiosity  to  dis- 
cover what  a  tall,  thin,  gilded  spire,  piercing  the  heavens 
like  a  needle,  may  be.  It  rises  at  the  head  of  the  street 
from  a  massive  building  that  does  not  look  like  a  church  nor 
like  a  palace,  but  whose  dimensions  seem  unreasonably 
large,  like  the  Louvre  at  Paris.  It  is  the  Admiralty,  the 
headquarters  of  the  Russian  Navy,  with  the  Imperial  Naval 
Academy  under  the  same  roof,  in  which  four  hundred  cadets 
are  being  educated  for  the  sea.  The  spire,  280  feet  high,  as 
slender  as  a  spire  could  possibly  be,  is  surmounted  by  a 
golden  cross,  and  rests  upon  an  artistic  doric  cupola,  with 
innumerable  slender  pillars,  one  of  the  most  graceful  archi- 
tectural designs  in  Petersburg,  pure,  simple  and  impressive, 
the  effect  being  greatly  heightened  by  the  gilding.  The  gold 
upon  this  needle  is  laid  like  that  upon  the  dome  of  St. 
Isaac's,  in  large  sheets,  just  as  tin  is  put  upon  a  roof,  and 
soldered  together.  I  have  forgotten  the  exact  value,  but 
ducats  received  as  a  gift  from  the  King  of  Holland  by  Peter 
the  Great  were  melted  down  and  used  for  this  purpose 
instead  of  being  turned  into  the  treasury. 

In  front  of  the  Admiralty  is  a  large  parade  ground,  1,360 
feet  square,  which  in  olden  times  was  used  for  the  inspection 


126 


RUSSIA : 


of  troops  by  the  Czar  and  his  generals,  but  is  now  given  to 
the  public  as  a  place  of  resort.  Around  this  square  are 
grouped  the  chief  official  buildings  of  the  capital,  the  For- 
eign office,  the  Customs  department,  the  headquarters  of  the 
Police,  the  War  office,  the  Senate  or  Council  Chamber,  the 
Palace  of  the  Holy  Synod  or  the  headquarters  of  the 
Church,  and  several  other  civil  establishments.  These 
buildings  are  all  of  brick,  covered  with  stucco  and  painted 
in  dark  colors,  without  any  attempt  to  disguise  the  mo- 
notony. The  evident  intention  was  to  indulge  in  a  harmless 

bit  of  deception,  and 
paint  the  structures  to 
look  as  if  they  were 
made  of  stone  ;  but  no 
stone  was  ever  found  in 
Russia  or  elsewhere  of 
the  colors  that  are  used. 
Nature  rejects  such  tints, 
except  in  disease  and 
decay.  The  roofs  of 
nearly  all  are  painted 
green,  which  makes  the 
jaundiced  walls  look 
more  distressing  still. 
Some  of  the  stucco  work 
would  be  admirable  if  it 

were  left  alone,  but  from  the  time  of  the  Tartars  it  has  been 
the  custom  to  paint  the  outside  of  things,  and  no  nation  so 
hallows  tradition  as  the  Russians. 

The  view  from  the  cupola  of  the  Admiralty  building  is 
very  fine,  and  one  is  at  once  struck  with  the  number  of  the 
churches.  Petersburg  seems  to  have  more  than  her  share. 
A  different  conclusion  is  arrived  at  when  the  traveller  has 
been  longer  in  the  country  and  seen  the  other  Russian 
towns.  Moscow,  with  her  seven  hundred  thousand  in- 
habitants, shows  524  spires  ;  and  the  rest  of  the  cities  are 
supplied  in  proportion.  The  first  thought  that  strikes  one 


ENTRANCE  TO  ART  GALLERY. 


EDUCATION  IN  RUSSIA. 


127 


as  he  enters  a  town  is  that  if  more  money  had  been  put  into 
soap,  fine-tooth  combs,  and  school-houses,  and  less  into  fine 
churches  there  would  be  more  comfort  and  prosperity  in  the 
empire.  You  find  a  church  for  nearly  every  hundred  in- 
habitants, but  you  cannot  find  any  school-houses  at  all. 
The  government  rests  upon  the  Church.  Loyalty  to  the 
Czar  is  taught  as  the  thirteenth  commandment,  and  the  most 
important  of  all.  Scratch  a  Nihilist  and  you  will  find  an  in- 
fidel. On  the  other  hand  the  policy  of  the  Church,  like  the 

policy  of  the  State,  is 
to  resist  every  form  of 
progress  that  comes 
without  the  endorse- 
ment of  the  Czar. 

Still  it  is  difficult  to 
reconcile  this  policy 
with  the  existing  evi- 
dences of  liberal,  even 
lavish  expenditures  of 
money  for  the  enter- 
tainment of  the  people 
and  the  cultivation  of 
their  tastes.  I  said  to 
one  of  the  leading  men 
of  Russia,  a  man  who  is  loyal  to  the  Czar  and  "  the 
Administrative  System,"  as  they  call  the  autocracy,  as  a  less 
rasping  expression,  I  suppose  : 

"  Why  has  your  government  spent  so  much  for  public  libra- 
ries, for  art  galleries,  and  pictures  to  fill  them,  for  acade- 
mies of  science,  schools  and  museums  of  minerals,  schools 
and  museums  for  the  promotion  of  agriculture  and  other 
useful  arts,  for  theatres  and  opera  houses,  and  has  utterly 
failed  to  provide  means  for  the  education  of  the  young,  for 
instruction  in  the  rudimentary  branches  of  education  ? 
There  is  a  splendid  university  here,"  I  said,  "  but  few  com- 
mon schools." 

He  smiled,  and  said,  "  I'm  used  to  answering   that  ques- 


A  VILLAGE  SCHOOL  HOUSE. 


128 


RUSSfA: 


tion.  Everybody  from  your  country  asks  it,  and  most  of  the 
strangers  who  come  here  from  England  and  Germany.  The 
difficulty  is  that  you  do  not  comprehend  our  '  Administrative 
System.'  There  are  two  classes  of  people  in  Russia — the 
upper  class  and  the  lower  class,  the  educated  and  the  igno- 
rant, the  rich  and  the  poor.  The  government  provides  in- 


MY  LITTLE  TRAVELLING  COMPANION. 

struction  for  the  upper  classes,  and  amusement  for  the  lower 
classes.  The  sons  and  daughters  of  the  nobles  must  be 
educated,  but  the  children  of  the  lower  classes  we  prefer  to 
remain  in  ignorance.  The  less  they  know  the  better.  A 
mujik  is  seldom  a  Nihilist." 

"  Then  from  what  class  do  the  Nihilists  come  ?  " 
"  From  the  families  of  the  upper  classes  who  have  felt  the 
iron  heel  of  the  Administrative  System,  and   resist  it ;  from 
the  families  of  the  lower  classes,  who,  in  spite  of  the  system, 


EDUCA  TION  IN  RUSSIA.  1 2g 

have  got  a  little  learning  at  home  or  abroad ;  and  most  of  all 
from  the  students  in  the  universities,"  was  his  reply. 

The  children  of  the  upper  classes,  I  find,  are  educated  by 
tutors  and  governesses  till  they  are  sufficiently  advanced  to 
enter  the  University.  There  is  scarcely  a  family  of  wealth 
or  position  in  Russia  which  does  not  have  at  least  one 
teacher  in  the  household,  and  in  many  families  there  are 
both  English  and  French  governesses  or  tutors.  There  is 
scarcely  a  child  of  ten  years  in  any  of  the  noble  families 
who  cannot  read  and  speak  English,  French,  and  German 
fluently.  The  Russians  are  the  most  accomplished  linguists 
in  the  world.  Coming  from  Moscow  to  Vienna  we  had  as 
fellow  passengers  in  our  compartment  a  lady  from  Minsk, 
one  of  the  smaller  cities  of  the  empire, 
with  a  beautiful  little  girl  nine  years  old. 
Their  nationality  was  evident,  and  we 
commented  upon  them  in  English,  as 
travellers  often  foolishly  do,  thinking 
that  they  are  not  understood.  I  made 
some  remark  about  the  little  girl,  fort- 
unately a  complimentary  one,  when  she 
looked  up  in  a  roguish  way,  and  in  as  THE  JMPERIAL 

CROWN. 

good   English  as  my  own,  remarked,  "  I 

understand  everything  you  say,"  and  I  blessed  the  child  for 

her  frankness  in  preserving  me  from  possible  mortification. 

They  proved  to  be  not  only  agreeable,  but  very  accom- 
plished people.  Neither  the  mother  nor  the  child  had  ever 
been  outside  of  Russia,  but  both  spoke  English,  French,  and 
German  as  well  as  their  own  language,  and  the  mother  spoke 
Polish  also,  having  lived  on  the  borders  of  Poland.  The 
child  was  one  of  the  most  beautiful  creatures  I  ever  saw, 
and  her  mother  afterwards  sent  me  her  photograph,  a  sketch 
from  which  I  give.  She  had  always  had  a  German  nurse, 
from  whom  she  learned  that  language,  then  an  English  gov- 
erness, and  finally  a  French  maid,  and  could  converse  in  one 
tongue  as  readily  as  in  the  other. 

Nor  is  this  an  exceptional  case.     It  is  a  common  one,  too 
9 


13° 


RUSSIA: 


common  to  cause  remark  among  the  people.  I  was  telling 
of  the  incident  to  a  Russian  gentleman  afterward,  and  he 
remarked  sententiously : 

"  All  my  children  can  do  the  same.  My  youngest,  seven 
years  old,  can  speak  three  languages,  and  has  had  a  gov- 
erness from  England  since  she  could  talk.  She  cannot  read 
English  or  French,  but  speaks  both  languages  as  well  as 
natives." 

The  University  of  Petersburg  is  one  of  the  finest  in  Eu- 
rope, and  has  at  this  time  1400  students,  somewhat  less 
than  formerly,  because  the  curriculum 
has  recently  been  restricted  for  some 
reason.  It  has  faculties  of  law,  science, 
history,  engineering,  and  various  other 
branches.  The  medical  branch  was  re- 
cently divorced,  and  established  as  a 
separate  institution,  with  1600  students. 
The  motto  of  the  University  is  a  signif- 
icant one,  "  Orthodoxy,  Autocracy,  Na- 
tionality, Learning,"  and  was  suggested 
by  the  Emperor  Nicholas.  In  every 
lecture-room  of  the  University,  in  fact 
in  every  school  and  council  chamber  and 
public  office  of  the  empire,  hangs  a 
triangular  mirror,  called  "  The  Mirror 
of  Conscience,"  set  up  to  typify  the 
presence  of  the  Emperor,  the  eternal  solemnity  of  the 
Church  and  State.  There  are  seven  other  universities  in 
the  empire,  that  at  Moscow  being  better  equipped  and 
having  a  larger  faculty  than  the  one  at  Petersburg. 

All  the  universities  are  hot-beds  of  Nihilism,  many  of  the 
professors  as  well  as  the  students  being  infected  with  the 
virus  of  revolution.  It  is  difficult  to  see  how  they  can  be 
otherwise,  for  a  cultivation  of  the  reason  and  a  knowledge 
of  the  liberty  that  exists  in  other  portions  of  the  world  can- 
not but  inspire  the  .student  with  hatred  for  the  despotism 
under  which  he  lives.  While  the  minister  of  education, 


A  DVORNIK. 


ED UCA  TION  IN  R USSIA.  1 3  l 

who  is  a  member  of  the  imperial  cabinet,  has  autocratic 
power,  like  all  the  Czar's  officials,  and  tries  to  prevent  the 
dissemination  of  revolutionary  doctrines  in  the  schools,  it  is 
difficult  for  him  to  obtain  as  teachers  men  of  thought  and 
education  without  opinions  of  their  own.  The  faculties  for 
the  most  part  are  composed  of  political  syncophants  and 
religious  fanatics,  who  believe  in  the  divine  origin  of  the 
empire  and  the  inspiration  of  the  Czar;  or  else  they  are  men 
who  are  willing  to  suppress  their  independence  of  thought 


and  action  for  fear  of  Siberia,  or  for  the  sake  of  the  generous 
salaries  they  receive. 

It  is  not  only  difficult  but  impossible,  however,  to  keep 
Nihilism  out  of  the  universities,  and  every  year  hundreds  of 
students,  and  maybe  a  professor  or  two  are  sent  to  air  their 
liberalism  on  the  snowy  wastes  of  Siberia.  The  assassins 
of  the  late  Czar  were  all  students. 

With  that  tendency  which  all  boys  have  to  do  what  is  for- 
bidden and  dangerous,  the  students  in  Russian  universities, 
particularly  those  at  Moscow  and  Kief,  are  much  given  to 
the  formation  of  political  clubs  and  secret  societies,  in  which 


132 


RUSSIA: 


they  debate  prohibited  questions,  and  read  essays  upon  top- 
ics that  touch  the  marrow  of  the  "  Administrative  System." 
The  very  fact  that  such  things  are  offensive  to  the  police 
makes  them  popular,  and  draws  into  the  conspiracies  boys 
who  have  no  desire  to  transgress  law  or  defy  authority. 
There  is  a  constant  and  unrelenting  warfare  between  the 
students  and  the  police,  as  is  the  case  in  every  college  town 
— at  Oxford,  or  Harvard,  or  at  Yale,  Amherst,  or  Cornell. 
To  outwit  tjie  detectives  is  the  highest  ambition  of  the 


CORRIDOR  IN  SLEEPING  CAR. 

adventuresome  student;  but  in  Russia,  to  defy  the  police 
means  something  more  than  such  an  act  at  New  Haven  or 
Ithaca.  It  results  in  exile  to  Siberia,  and  sometimes  death. 
The  police  do  not  consider  the  escapades  of  the  students  as 
harmless,  by  any  means.  They  are  accustomed  to  regard 
all  reflections  upon  the  "  Administrative  System  "  as  treason- 
able, whether  they  come  from  school-boys  or  men  of  experi- 
ence. 

But,  as  I  have  said,  the  very  fact  that  freedom  of  speech 
and  secret  societies  are  prohibited,  makes  the  violation  of 
the  prohibition  popular.  Resistance,  innocent  at  first,  soon 


EDUCATION  IN  RUSSIA. 


133 


grows  into  conspiracy,  and  conspiracy  into  crime.  The  gen- 
uine Nihilists,  the  professional  agitators  and  propagandists, 
get  admission  into  the  students'  clubs,  fan  the  flames  that 
are  ever  existing,  talk  about  heroism  and  martyrdom,  invoke 
the  ambition  of  the  boys,  feed  them  with  revolutionary  liter- 
ature, until  the  clubs  develop  into  regular  Nihilist  organiza- 
tions, with  dreadful  oaths,  secret  ballots,  underground  print- 
ing-presses, mysteries  of  all  sorts,  and  finally  exposure, 
arrest,  prison  cells,  and  banishment.  That  is  the  story  of 


SLEEPING  BERTH  MADE  UP. 

half  the  clubs  that  are  innocently  organized  at  first,  and  of  the 
fate  of  many  young  men  who  originally  did  not  care  whether 
they  lived  under  a  despotism  or  a  republic,  but  were  led  into 
treason  by  a  boyish  fondness  for  mystery  and  midnight 
meetings. 

The  Nihilistic  conspirators  use  the  students  to  great  ad- 
vantage as  cats'-paws  to  pull  their  chestnuts  out  of  the  fire. 
The  universities  are  the  depositories  of  socialistic  literature, 
left  with  young  men  who  have  been  flattered  by  the  confi- 
dence of  a  political  exile,  and  who  take  charge  of  the  docu- 
ments without  knowing  their  danger  in  doing  so.  The  boys 
in  the  chemical  classes  furnish  the  conspirators  with  the 


134 


tiUSSTA: 


materials  for  their  bombs,  and  assist  in  their  construction 
without  realizing  the  measure  of  the  crime  they  commit. 

But  in  all  the  universities,  wherever  students  are  in  the 
habit  of  gathering,  there  are  those  who  sincerely  believe  in 
the  doctrines  of  socialism  as  well  as  republicanism,  and  de- 
liberately assist  in  conspiracies  from  motives  of  patriotism  or 
vengeance,  as  most  of  their  companions  do  from  dare-devil- 
try. These  are,  however,  comparatively  few  in  number,  and 
are  the  sons  or  the  brothers  of  political  exiles,  of  men  who 
have  suffered  for  opinion's  sake  justly  or  unjustly,  and 
whose  friends  and  relatives  live  for 
revenge.  The  most  of  the  young  men 
who  graduate  from  the  universities 
into  the  prisons  are  reckless  fellows 
who  have  been  drawn  into  treason 
from  the  love  of  mysteries,  and  the 
natural  penchant  for  doing  that  which 
is  forbidden. 

The  discovery  of  every  Nihilistic 
plot,  the  arrest  of  every  group  of  con- 
spirators, involves  more  or  less  mem- 
bers of  the  universities.  Whenever ' 
the  police  make  a  haul  of  Nihilists, 
about  three-fourths  of  the  fish  in  their 
nets  are  students — youngsters  from 

nineteen  to  twenty-five  years  of  age.  The  statistics  of 
political  crimes  show  that  ninety-five  per  cent,  are  com- 
mitted by  men  under  thirty,  and  over  one-fourth  by  those 
who  have  not  reached  the  legal  age — mere  boys.  The 
last  batch  of  political  conspirators  that  was  tried  consisted 
of  forty-two  men  who  were  under  twenty-five,  thirty-seven 
who  were  between  twenty-five  and  thirty,  and  only  six 
who  were  over  thirty  years  of  age.  One  was  fifty,  a  cash- 
iered officer  of  the  army,  another  was  forty-seven,  a  Profes- 
sor in  the  University,  while  the  rest  were  discharged 
employe's  of  the  government,  who  had  clone  the  planning 
and  used  the  students  as  the  tools  of  their  revenge. 


A  CORKER  IN  A  CAR. 


EDUCATION  IN  RUSSIA. 


135 


The  police,  understanding  the  situation,  naturally  keep  a 
close  watch  upon  the  universities,  and  have  their  spies 
among  the  students.  It  is  there  that  they  get  the  most 
important  information,  the  clews  which  lead  to  the  discov- 
eries of  conspirators.  A  boy  who  is  timid  and  lacks  self- 
control,  can  easily  be  induced  to  disclose  the  secrets  of  the 

societies  to  which  he  be- 
longs, especially  when 
promised  protection  and 
assured  of  secrecy ;  and 
that  boy,  when  the  snares 
of  the  police  are  once 
coiled  around  him,  will 
never  be  anything  else 
than  a  spy. 

Although  her  univer- 
sities are  superior.  Rus- 
sia has  the  most  defec- 
tive and  the  most  lim- 
ited educational  system 
of  any  of  the  great  na- 
tions. The  mass  of  the 
people  cannot  read  or 
write  their  own  names, 
and  it  is  the  policy  of  the 
government  not  to  per- 
mit them  to  do  so.  It 
was  only  in  June,  1887, 
that  the  minister  of  edu- 
cation issued  a  decree  forbidding  the  education  of  the 
children  of  peasants,  because,  as  he  explained  truthfully,  it 
bred  discontent.  A  little  learning  is  a  dangerous  thing, 
particularly  in  Russia.  Ignorance,  also,  is  bliss  throughout 
the  great  empire. 

Russia  has  over  a  hundred  millions  of  people.  The  United 
States  has  over  fifty  millions.  The  comparative  conditions 
of  the  two  nations  may  be  judged  by  the  fact  that  the  liter- 


A  FIRE  TOWER. 


136 


RUSSTA : 


ate  population  in  Russia  is  about  the  same  as  the  illiterate 
population  in  the  United  States.  The  last  statistics  show 
that  in  a  population  of  one  hundred  and  four  millions  in 
Russia,  there  were  less  than  two  millions  of  children  en- 
rolled in  the  schools  and  universities,  about  one  and  two- 
thirds  per  cent.  In  the  United  States,  with  a  population, 
say,  of  fifty-five  millions,  there  were  at  the  same  time  over 
seventeen  million  children  in  the  public  and  private  schools. 


A  RUSSIAN  STUDY. 

I  find  by  late  statistical  reports  that  in  Russia  proper, 
exclusive  of  Finland  and  the  Polish  provinces,  there  are  but 
524  schools  for  boys,  with  an  average  attendance  of  129,000 
pupils,  and  431  schools  for  girls,  with  an  average  attendance 
of  91,000.  The  schools  for  boys  are  mostly  taught  by  the 
priests,  and  those  for  girls  by  the  nuns. 

Instruction  in  the  fine  arts  is  given  at  the  Academy,  one 
of  the  handsomest  buildings  in  the  city,  which  was  estab- 


EDUCA  TION  IN  RUSSIA.  l  ^ 

lished  by  Peter  the  Great,  and  enriched  by  Catherine.  Both 
Peter  and  Catherine  brought  instructors  from  Italy  and 
other  countries,  and  encouraged  the  ambition  of  the  artists 
of  Russia  by  paying  princely  prices  for  all  their  work  that 
was  worthy.  In  the  time  of  Catherine  II.  the  country  was 
crowded  with  the  best  painters  in  the  world,  and  she  com- 
pelled her  Court  to  give  them  employment,  as  she  did  herself. 
It  is  said  that  Catherine  gave  a  sitting  to  some  portrait 
painter  every  day. 

The  present  Academy  is  not  only  one  of  the  finest  but  one 
of  the  largest  buildings  in  Europe,  being  400  feet  square, 
and  ornamented  without  by  superb  carving ;  while  the  rooms 
within  are  filled  with  the  work  of  native  painters  and  many 
fine  examples  of  the  great  masters.  There  is  a  library  of 
books  on  art  subjects  in  all  languages,  of  38,000  volumes, 
and  a  collection  of  300,000  engravings,  etchings,  etc.,  to  which 
all  the  students  have  access.  There  is  a  large  faculty  of 
instructors  in  painting,  drawing,  and  architecture.  The  latter 
study  receives  a  great  deal  of  attention. 

The  School  of  Mines  is  on  a  corresponding  scale,  for  the 
mineral  wealth  of  Russia  is  great,  and  the  government 
encourages  its  development  in  every  possible  way,  even 
going  so  far  as  to  furnish  men  for  the  mines  in  large  num- 
bers, in  the  shape  of  political  exiles.  Instead  of  sending 
them  to  rot  and  rust  in  prison,  they  are  transported  to  the 
Colorados,  the  Arizonas,  and  the  Nevadas  of  the  empire. 
There  are  250  pupils  in  the  School  of  Mines,  most  of  whom 
are  graduates  from  some  branch  of  the  University,  and  being 
supported  by  the  government,  they  are  compelled  to  wear 
uniforms  similar  to  those  of  the  cadets  of  the  Military  Acad- 
emy. The  students  of  the  latter  institution  are  also  instructed 
in  the  science  of  mining  engineering.  The  collections  of 
minerals  in  the  museum  attached  to  the  school  is  the  richest 
and  most  extensive  in  the  world,  containing  specimens  from 
every  country,  and  models  of  all  the  famous  mines  in  Europe, 
Asia,  and  America.  Among  other  objects  of  especial  inter- 
est is  a  nugget  of  nearly  pure  gold  worth  five  thousand  dol- 


138 


RUSSIA: 


lars  as  it  was  discovered.  In  the  park  connected  with  the 
school  is  a  model  of  a  mine  in  natural  size,  which  has  been 
built  by  the  students,  and  the  visitor  is  led  through  its  intri- 
cate tunnels  by  guides  with  torches,  fifty  feet  or  more  under- 
ground. The  surfaces  are  painted  to  represent  different 
kinds  of  quartz. 

The  Imperial  Library  is  a  grand  building,  and  contains 
over  a  million  volumes,  as  well  as  some  three  hundred  thou- 


THE   IMPERIAL  EXCHANGE  AT  PETERSBURG. 


sand  manuscripts  of  historical  interest  and  value.  It  owes 
its  origin  to  collections  which  were  captured  at  Kief,  Warsaw, 
and  Cracrow,  and  many,  in  fact  most  of  the  books  are  the 
spoils  of  war.  There  is  a  larger  collection  of  French  state 
papers  than  exists  in  France,  for  during  the  French  revolu- 
tion the  archives  of  Paris  were  dragged  out  by  the  mob  and 
sold  to  the  highest  bidder,  who  happened  to  be  the  Russian 
Ambassador.  Writers  on  French  history  often  have  had  to 
visit  Petersburg  to  determine  points  in  dispute  about  their 
own  country.  Here  also  is  the  largest  collection  of  oriental 
manuscripts  in  the  world,  most  of  which  were  captured  in  the 


EDUCA  TION  IN  RUSSIA. 


139 


wars  with  the  Turks  and  Persians,  and  taken  to  Petersburg. 
The  Hebrew  collection  is  also  very  rich,  and  many  of  these 
papers  were  seized  during  wars  from  the  Jewish  scholars 
and  libraries  of  Poland.  There  have  also  been  a  good  many 
valuable  contributions  to  the  library  by  private  collectors,  by 
legacy,  and  otherwise. 

Voltaire's  entire  collection  of  books  and  manuscripts  was 
purchased  after  his  death  by  Catherine  the  Great,  and  is 
preserved  here  ;  and  there  are  a  number  of  other  priceless 
mementos  in  manuscript  and  print.  In  the  manuscripts 
that  were  brought  from  France  are  the  letters  which  passed 
between  Mary,  Queen  of  Scotland,  and  the  King  of  France, 
several  hundred  being  in  her  own  handwriting.  Here  also 
is  a  collection  of  Bibles,  including  a  copy  of  almost  every 
edition  that  was  ever  issued  in  any  language.  The  director 
of  the  library  claims  that  the  collection  is  entirely  complete, 
but  that  is  disputed.  There  are  many  valuable  musical  man- 
uscripts as  well,  original  scores  of  Mozart,  Handel,  Hadyn, 
Beethoven,  and  other  of  the  masters. 

The  Artillery  Museum  is  also  an  interesting  place,  having 
the  largest  collection  of  arms  and  armor  of  all  ages  outside 
the  Tower  of  London,  with  many  other  objects  of  historical 
interest.  The  flags  which  the  Russian  armies  have  captured 
in  battle  are  here ;  the  uniforms  of  their  great  generals  are 
preserved  with  religious  care,  with  their  swords,  and  in  many 
cases  the  stuffed  skins  of  the  horses  they  rode  in  battle. 
One  of  the  greatest  curiosities  is  the  stool  of  the  old  Robber 
Chief  of  the  Caspian  sea,  who  used  to  sit  upon  it  and  deliver 
judgment  upon  the  captives  of  his  band,  which  he  usually 
executed  promptly  with  his  own  hands  by  the  aid  of  eight 
pistols  that  are  set  in  sockets  around. the  stool.  His  war 
club,  which  was  his  sceptre  as  well  as  his  favorite  weapon, 
leans  against  the  stool,  studded  with  big  nails,  which  are 
popularly  supposed  to  represent  the  number  of  his  victims. 
He  kept  tally  by  driving  in  another  nail  whenever  he  killed 
a  man,  and  if  the  popular  tradition  be  true  he  must  have 
nearly  depopulated  the  country.  The  Russians  had  to  send 


j^o  RUSSIA: 

an  army  to  suppress  his  depredations,  and  he  was  finally 
captured  and  beheaded.  The  stories  of  his  courage  and 
cruelty  fill  the  novels  of  the  nation. 

The  Petersburg  Academy  of  Sciences  is  well  known  to 
every  man  of  scientific  learning  in  America,  for  it  contains 
one  of  the  largest  and  most  valuable  of  collections,  only 
being  surpassed,  I  believe,  by  the  British  Museum  in  its 
general  display,  and  containing  many  unique  specimens  that 
can  be  seen  nowhere  else.  The  institution  was  founded  in 
1714  by  Peter  the  Great,  who  entrusted  the  plans  and  their 
execution  to  Leibnitz,  the  famous  German.  It  is  now  divided 
into  three  departments  of  instruction,  Mathematical  Science, 
Natural  History,  and  Philology  and  Literature,  and  has  in 
its  faculty  several  men  of  universal  fame.  The  library 
contains  247,000  volumes,  including  the  collections  of  Kep- 
ler, the  astronomer  and  mathematician.  There  are  300 
students,  some  of  them  coming  from  the  other  nations  of 
Europe  to  enjoy  the  facilities  afforded. 

The  museums  are  numerous  and  varied,  there  being  a  sep- 
arate department  for  each  of  the  several  branches  of  scien- 
tific inquiry.  To  the  layman  the  zoological  collection  is  the 
most  entertaining,  for  it  contains  the  remains  of  the  two 
great  mammoths  that 'were  some  years  ago  discovered  under 
the  snows  of  the  Lena  delta,  in  Siberia,  where  through 
countless  centuries,  not  only  the  bones,  but  portions  of  the 
flesh  and  integuments  were  preserved  by  the  ice  so  com- 
pletely that  the  bears  and  wolves  used  to  feed  upon  them, 
and  by  their  tracks  the  skeletons  were  discovered  by  a  Tun- 
gusian  fisherman.  He  reported  the  fact  to  the  governor  of 
the  district,  and  ultimately  the  news  reached  Petersburg, 
when  a  company  of  scientific  men  were  sent  to  secure  the 
curiosity.  By  removing  a  portion  of  a  cliff  the  scientists 
were  brought  face  to  face  with  a  creature  that  ceased  to  exist 
centuries  ago,  and  the  existence  of  which  was  known  only 
from  the  finding  of  fragments  elsewhere.  The  monster  is  in 
an  excellent  state  of  preservation,  and  scientific  men  have 
come  to  pay  their  respects  to  it  from  all  portions  of  the 


ED  UCA  TION  IN  R  USS1A .  j  A  j 

globe.  There  are  many  other  rare  animals  in  the  collection 
including  a  species  of  extinct  rhinoceros  found  also  in  the 
snow  and  ice  of  Siberia,  and  not  less  interesting  than  the 
mammoth. 

There  are  naval,  agricultural,  architectural,  timber, 
topographical,  mechanical  and  military  equipment  muse- 
ums in  Petersburg  also,  but  they  are  interesting  only  to 
those  who  are  studying  the  branches  they  represent,  and  are 
not  often  visited  by  the  ordinary  tourist. 


142 


RUSSIA : 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  PRESS  AND  THE  CENSOR. 

How  the  Newspapers  of  Russia  are  Throttled. — No  News  allowed  to  be 
Published.— The  Operations  of  the  Censor.— Katkoff  the  only  Man 
who  dared  defy  Him. — The  Mails  Violated. — Private  Letters  opened 
by  the  Police. 

THERE  is  no  such  a  thing  as  a  newspaper  in  Russia. 
There  are  430  daily  journals,  printed  throughout  an  empire 
of  104,000,000  population.  Current  information  is  strictly 
excluded.  There  is  always  a  continued  story  in  the  sheet, 
an  elaborate  puff  of  the  leading  actress,  announcements  of  the 
principal  theatres,  a  description  of  some  new  painting  at  the 
gallery  perhaps,  or  a  paid  notice  of  the  opening  of  a  new 
store ;  while  in  the  telegraphic  corner  are  a  few  dispatches 
announcing  the  loss  of  a  ship  at  sea,  or  a  railway  accident  in 
America,  or  an  account  of  the  latest  duel  in  France.  But 
any  reference  to  occurrences  in  Petersburg  in  "one  of  the 
newspapers  of  that  city  would  create  the  biggest  sort  of  a 
sensation. 

While  I  was  there  the  birthday  of  the  Empress  was  cele- 
brated by  a  grand  fete  at  the  Summer  Palace  at  Peteroff,  at 
a  cost  of  a  quarter  of  a  million  dollars  for  illuminations 
and  fireworks.  It  was  the  grandest  display  I  ever  saw,  and 
it  is  difficult  to  conceive  of  one  any  grander.  The  next 
morning  the  several  newspapers  of  Petersburg  contained  a 
four  line  paragraph,  announcing  that  the  fete  had  been  suc- 
cessful, and  that  was  all.  This  same  paragraph  appeared 
verbatim  in  all  the  papers  of  Europe.  It  had  been  furnished 
to  the  foreign  news  agency  as  well  as  to  the  local  press  by 
the  censor.  In  the  same  papers  on  that  day,  I  noticed  a 
half-column  account  of  a  street  fight  between  two  "  Ama- 


THE  PRESS  AND  THE  CENSOR.  IA^ 

zons  "  as  the  reporter  called  them — two  degraded  women, 
and  three-quarters  of  a  column  devoted  to  a  speech  made  a 
few  evenings  before  by  a  young  man  at  a  banquet  given  him 
by  his  friends,  prior  to  his  departure  for  a  visit  to  Paris. 

The  papers  are  reasonably  well  supported,  as  the  advertis- 
ing columns  show.  I  do  not  know  what  rates  they  get,  but 
there  is  little  expense  of  publication,  and  the  profits  must  be 
comparatively  large.  Every  one  takes  the  Journal  of  St. 
Petersburg,  the  official  gazette,  printed  in  both  the  French 
and  Russian  languages,  in  which  are  published  all  the  army 
and  navy  details,  the  official  reports  from  all  branches  of  the 
government,  and  whatever 
information  about  the  Court 
it  is  considered  well  to  give 
the  people.  The  editors  of 
other  papers  get  their  cues 
from  this,  and  follow  the 
lead  of  its  editorials  with 
the  same  promptness  that 
a  squad  of  soldiers  follow  vr/^*B 
their  file  leader.  <^i//^  '^ 

The  usual  editorial  in  the 
Russian   paper  is  about  the 

KATKOFF. 

effect  of  some   new  system 

of  sanitation,  or  the  different  views  of  the  eclipse,  the  use- 
fulness of  some  new  fertilizer,  or  on  the  extension  of  the 
railway  system  in  the  Soudan.  Never  does  the  editor  strike 
out  into  politics  till  he  gets  his  cue  from  the  Journal,  when 
he  commences  to  howl  as  loud  as  he  can. with  the  rest  of 
the  pack,  anxious  for  the  Czar  to  hear  him  bark. 

There  may  occur  in  the  city  of  Petersburg  an  accident  of 
great  seriousness,  under  the  nose  of  the  editor,  but  he  will 
never  refer  to  it  in  his  columns  without  a  hint  from  the  cen- 
sor, lest  he  may  by  inference  or  otherwise  cast  a.  reflection 
upon  the  efficiency  of  whoever  was  responsible.  If  there  is 
a  murder  he  dare  not  write  it  up  for  fear  the  police  may  be 
offended,  or  if  there  is  a  robbery  he  is  obliged  to  keep  silent 


I44  RUSSIA: 

out  of  respect  to  the  same  authority.  The  life  of  an  editor 
is  therefore  an  easy  one,  and  reporters  are  almost  unknown. 
There  is  no  rivalry  about  news,  no  "  scoops,"  no  investi- 
gations of  official  corruption,  and  no  "  boodlers'  "  trials  to 
report.  There  has  been  but  one  editor  in  Russia  for  a  cent- 
ury who  dared  to  speak  his  mind,  and  whose  paper  was 
issued  without  the  endorsement  of  the  censor,  and  that  was 
KatkofT  of  The  Moscow  Gazette,  who  died  not  long  ago,  and 
was  buried  with  great  honors.  He  was  a  man  of  much 
force  of  character,  of  unsuspected  loyalty  and  devotion  to  the 
Czar,  of  great  ability  and  patriotism,  and  discreet  enough  to 
criticise  the  conduct  of  the  government  only  when  he  knew 
that  his  words  would  be  effective  in  changing  it.  Between 
Katkoff  and  De  Giers,  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  there 
was  a  bitter  feud,  and  the  Moscow  Gazette  was  seldom  issued 
for  two  years  or  more  without  some  stinging  criticism  upon 
that  officer's  course.  It  is  understood  that  the  Czar  several 
times  remonstrated  personally,  but  Katkoff  convinced  him 
that  he  was  right  and  the  minister  wrong.  Then  the  Czar 
would  go  to  the  minister  and  advise  him  to  shift  his  course 
to  suit  the  breezes  from  Moscow,  when  the  minister  would 
argue  so  effectively  as  to  destroy  the  force  of  all  the  editor 
had  said. 

"  I  think  they  both  are  right,"  said  the  Czar  one  day, 
"  and  it  may  be  well  for  them  to  keep  on  quarrelling.  Both 
are  able  men,  and  as  long  as  they  don't  carry  the  dispute 
too  far  we  shall  all  profit  by  their  discussions." 

Katkoff  won  the  affections  and  the  confidence  of  the  late 
Czar,  and  no  man  in  Russia  had  more  influence  with  him. 
His  relations  with  the  present  Czar  have  been  similar. 
They  were  frequently  together.  Katkoff  was  always  ad- 
mitted to  the  Emperor's  apartments  on  presenting  himself,  a 
favor  few  of  the  ministers  enjoyed.  When  a  minister  of  the 
empire  wants  to  see  the  Czar  he  sends  a  messenger  to  say 
that  he  is  awaiting  his  Imperial  Majesty's  pleasure  on  a 
matter  of  official  importance.  If  he  wants  to  see  him 
badly  he  says  it  is  a  matter  of  urgent  importance,  or  impera- 


THE  PRESS  AND  THE  CENSOR. 


145 


live  importance  if  he  wishes  to  speak  in  the  superlative 
degree.  Then  the  Czar  tells  him  to  call  to-morrow  or  the 
next  day,  or  the  day  after.  The  present  Czar  is  usually 
very  prompt.  He  is  an  excellent  man  of  business,  in  fact 
he  seems  to  care  for  nothing  but  his  official  duties  and  the 
pleasure  of  his  home  circle,  and  seldom  keeps  his  minis- 
ters waiting ;  but  in  former  times  official  matters  were  always 
postponed  till  the  pleasures  were  over. 

KatkofI,  as  I  have  said,  was  always  admitted  to  the  Czar 
at  once,  no  matter  what  was  going  on,  and  he  used  often  to 
run  up  from  Moscow,  spend  the  day  with  the  Emperor,  and 
return  home  the  following  night.  The  Czar  never,  or  at  least 
seldom,  decided  upon  any  policy  of  importance  without  con- 
sulting the  editor,  and  the  editor  actually  introduced  into 
Russia  something  like  public  opinion.  He  was  given  a  pen- 
sion of  a  considerable  amount,  a  subsidy  toward  the  support 
of  his  paper,  a  decoration  by  the  Emperor  as  a  reward  for 
his  services,  and  when  he  died  the  ruler  of  Russia  was  one 
of  his  most  sincere  mourners. 

Almost  immediately  after  KatkofFs  death,  however,  the 
subsidy  which  the  Moscow  Gazette  had  received  was  taken 
away  and  given  to  the  Grazhdanin,  edited  by  Prince 
Meshtcherski,  which  will  hereafter  be  the  oracle  ot  the  gov- 
ernment, in  that  city.  It  is  not  only  common  but  habitual  to 
subsidize  newspapers  in  Russia.  The  official  organ  always 
receives  a  bounty  from  the  government,  and  the  editor  or 
proprietor  is  thus  recompensed  for  his  devotion,  as  he  is  re- 
imbursed for  his  expenditures  in  publishing  official  docu- 
ments. Often  other  papers  receive  financial  assistance,  and 
faithful  editors  get  pensions  or  decorations,  thus  afford- 
ing an  inducement  to  be  loyal  and  obsequious.  Nearly 
every  minister  in  the  empire  has  his  personal  organ. 

But  the  censor  must  examine  every  copy  before  it  is 
issued  to  the  public.  For  his  convenience  the  papers  are 
printed  one  day  in  advance.  The  type  of  Thursday's  paper 
is  set  on  Tuesday.  On  Wednesday  morning  the  forms  are 
made  up,  one  copy  is  'printed  and  sent  to  the  censor,  who 
10 


I46  RUSSIA  : 

looks  it  over  at  his  leisure  during  the  day  and  returns  it  to 
the  office  with  his  stamp  of  approval  on  each  page.  This 
copy  is  carefully  filed  away  as  a  protection  for  the  editor, 
who  then  sets  his  presses  to  work  and  orders  the  edition 
distributed  to  the  subscribers.  If  there  is  anything  in  it 
that  the  censor  cannot  approve  he  marks  the  objectionable 
article,  which  is  taken  out  of  the  forms  and  something  else 
substituted.  If  the  censor  is  otherwise  engaged  the  papers 
have  to  wait.  Sometimes  the  issue  of  Tuesday  will  be  de- 
tained till  Wednesday,  and  sent  out  with  the  Wednesday 
issue,  but  it  makes  very  little  difference,  for  last  week's  paper 
is  just  as  interesting  as  to-day's. 


THE   CENSOR'S  STAMP. 

All  foreign  mails  are  also  submitted  to  a  censor,  not 
the  same  man  who  reads  the  local  papers,  but  another  who 
has  his  headquarters  and  a  staff  of  readers  at  the  general 
post-office.  All  newspaper  mail  is  dumped  on  his  table, 
except  that  addressed  to  the  members  of  the  diplomatic 
corps,  and  high  officials,  which  is  supposed  to  be  delivered 
promptly  without  examination.  So  the  American  minister 
gets  his  papers  sometimes  a  week  ahead  of  other  residents. 
Every  wrapper  is  opened.  If  the  paper  contains  an  objec- 
tionable article,  something  in  the  way  of  criticism  of  the  "  Ad- 
ministrative System"  of  Russia  for  example,  the  censor 
takes  a  large  pad,  dips  it  in  the  ink,  and  stamps  it  upon 
the  article,  obliterating  it.  Thus  no  incendiary  ideas  are 


THE  PRESS  AND  THE  CENSOR. 


'47 


permitted  to  obtain  circulation  among  the  people  ;  no  criti- 
cisms of  the  government  are  allowed  to  be  read,  and  no 
news  from  exiled  Nihilists. 

At  the  time  I  was  in  Petersburg  there  was  a  good  deal  of 
comment  in  the  foreign  papers  about  the  policy  of  the  Czar 


A   COUNTRY    SALOON. 


in  relation  to  the  Bulgarian  question,  and  the  entertainment 
of  a  mutinous  Indian  prince  who  had  been  under  the  sur- 
veillance of  British  officers  and  had  escaped  to  Moscow, 
where  he  was  feted  by  all  the  enemies  of  England.  All 
references  to  these  subjects  were  blotted  from  the  English, 


148  KC7SSIA: 

French,  and  German  papers  received  in  Petersburg;  and  the 
files  in  the  hotel  reading-rooms  looked  as  if  there  had  been 
an  epidemic  of  accidents  in  the  press-rooms  of  Europe. 

When  the  censor  has  read  one  copy  of  a  paper,  the 
London  Times,  for  example,  he  tucks  it  back  in  its  wrapper 
.and  throws  it  into  a  basket  for  delivery,  picking  up  the 
next  paper  that  comes  to  his  hand.  If  he  finds  that  is  a 
copy  of  the  London  Times  of  the  same  date  he  stamps  out  the 
objectionable  article  he  has  already  read,  and  throws  it 
into  the  basket  without  further  examination.  If  the  first  copy 
examined  was  found  to  contain  nothing  exceptionable,  he 
examines  no  more  of  them,  but  throws  them  into  the  basket 
as  fast  as  they  come.  To  simplify  matters  the  circulation  of 
very  few  foreign  papers  is  allowed  in  Russia.  The  censors 
cannot  possibly  read  everything  sent  through  the  mails,  so 
they  confine  their  labors  to  the  principal  journals  of  Europe, 
and  destroy  all  the  remainder.  One  can  receive  the  London 
Times,  or  News,  or  Standard  in  Russia,  but  no  other  London 
dailies.  He  can  have  Punch  and  the  monthlies,  provided 
they  contain  nothing  objectionable.  He  can  have  Figaro, 
Gil  Bias,  the  Petit  Journal,  and  one  or  two  other  of  the 
Paris  papers,  but  he  cannot  get  the  strong  Republican 
papers  of  that  city.  The  New  York  Herald  is  the  only 
American  daily  that  can  be  taken.  The  censors  will  not 
read  any  others,  so  there  is  no  use  in  having  them  sent.  I 
had  two  daily  papers  sent  to  me  from  the  United  States  all 
the  time  I  was  in  Russia,  but  not  one  of  them  was  delivered. 
I  was  told  at  the  post-office  that  the  censor  did  not  have 
time  to  read  every  transient  paper  that  came  by  mail,  and 
none  could  be  delivered  till  he  had  read  it.  He  read  only 
one  American  paper,  and  if  I  wanted  to  subscribe  for  that  it 
would  be  delivered. 

This  censorship  of  the  mails  is  the  most  cowardly  and 
contemptible  feature  of  the  Russian  Administrative  System. 
It  is  a  confession  of  official  weakness,  and  an  invasion 
of  private  rights  that  tempts  the  average  man  to  sympathize 
with  the  revolutionary  element,  who  justly  make  it  one  of 


THE  PRESS  AND  THE  CENSOR. 


149 


their  chief  causes  of  complaint.  The  Russian  post-office  is 
under  the  direction  of  the  police,  like  everything  else,  and  is 
one  of  their  strongholds.  They  have  the  authority  to  open 
letters  as  well  as  papers,  and  often  exercise  it.  In  fact,  there 
is  no  limit  to  their  power.  If  a  citizen  or  a  foreigner  is  sus- 
pected of  sympathy  with  the  revolutionary  element,  or  is  sup- 
posed to  be  in  communication  with  agitators,  whether  at 
home  or  in  exile,  the  police  give  orders  to  have  all  his  letters 
delivered  to  them.  The  gum  upon  the  lid  of  the  envelope  is 
moistened  by  being  held  over  a  jet  of  steam,  and  so  opened,  a 
thin  knife  with  a  keen  edge 
being  slipped  under  the 
seal.  The  letter  is  read, 
resealed,  and  sent  back  to 
the  post-office,  or  it  is  re- 
tained as  evidence  of  trea- 
son. 

Not  long  ago  it  was  open- '  v 
ly  charged  that  the  mail  of  'M  ^ 
one  of   the   Foreign   Lega- 
tions   was    tampered   with, 
and  a  great  fuss  was  made. 
The   post-office  officials  in-  A  RUSSIAN  SHEPHERD. 

dignantly  denied  it,  but  every  one  believed  the  charge  was 
true.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  police  obtain  a  great  deal 
of  important  information  from  the  letters  they  read ;  and  it 
is  dangerous  to  write  to  or  receive  a  letter  from  a  suspected 
person.  Not  long  since  a  lady  was  sent  to  Siberia  for  cor- 
responding with  a  fugitive  Nihilist.  She  was  not  aware  why 
he  was  living  in  England  ;  there  was  nothing  in  his  letters 
that  implicated  either  her  or  him  in  any  conspiracy  against 
the  government ;  but  he  had  been  engaged  in  a  plot  and  had 
escaped  to  London,  where  he  wrote  innocent  letters  that 
ruined  a  girl  he  loved. 

Letters  going  out  of  the  Russian  post-offices  are  examined 
as  well  as  those  that  come  in.  All  packages  addressed  to 
foreign  newspapers  are  opened  and  their  contents  read. 


ISO 


XUSSIA: 


Correspondents  residing  in  Russia  write  upon  the  thinnest 
sort  of  stationary,  and  address  the  envelopes  to  individuals 
or  business  firms  so  as  to  avoid  the  espionage  of  the  police, 
who  destroy  everything  that  in  any  way  reflects  upon  the 
"Administrative  System."  If  I  had  attempted  to  send  these 
articles  through  the  Russian  post-office  they  would  have  been 
confiscated.  This  page  alone  would  doubtless  cause  my 
arrest. 

All  manuscripts  carried  in  bags  or  trunks  by  travellers  are 
examined  at  the  Russian  custom-houses  to  prevent  the  circu- 
lation of  incendiary  literature.  All  newspapers  found  in  the 
cars  that  cross  the  border  are  seized  and  destroyed.  I  had 
a  lot  of  newspaper  clippings  in  an  envelope  which  I  had  cut 

from  time  to  time,  re- 
lating to  Russia.  A 
gentleman  in  Berlin 
who  was  familiar  with 
the  operations  of  the 
Russian  police  advised 
me  not  to  take  them 
with  me,  as  they  would 
certainly  cause  me  trou- 
ble if  discovered  by  the 
ENTRANCE  TO  THE  HERMITAGE.  inspectors.  A  gentle- 
man connected  with  the  police  at  Petersburg  to  whom  I 
spoke  of  this  said  that  my  friend's  advice  was  good.  If 
they  had  been  found  by  some  policeman  or  custom  officer, 
they  would  certainly  have  resulted  in  my  detention  until  my 
character  and  purposes  had  been  investigated.  He  kindly 
suggested,  too,  knowing  my  business,  that  if  I  intended  to 
write  anything  about  the  country,  it  would  be  better  not  to 
commence  till  I  had  passed  over  the  border. 

I  had  a  chance  to  feel  the  heel  of  the  despot  myself.  There 
was  in  Petersburg  a  gentleman  from  whom  I  received  many 
attentions.  I  had  taken  letters  of  introduction  to  him  from 
mutual  friends  in  America,  and  he  gave  up  almost  his  entire 
time  to  my  entertainment,  He  was  an  official  of  the  gov- 


THE  PRESS  AND  THE  CENSOR.  l  5  j 

ernment  occupying  a  high  and  lucrative  station,  was  a  per- 
sonal friend  of  the  Czar,  saw  him  frequently,  and  was  not 
only  loyal  but  devoted  to  his  sovereign.  I  spoke  to  him 
of  some  information  I  wanted  from  the  police  about  a  cer- 
tain exile  I  had  met  in  London.  He  volunteered  to  get  it 
for  me,  as  he  was  on  friendly  terms  at  police  headquarters, 
and  had  official  relations  there.  From  that  time  I  saw  noth- 


IN  THE   KITCHEN. 

ing  more  of  him.  He  cut  me  completely,  broke  engagements 
he  had  made  to  go  sight-seeing,  declined  to  answer  notes  I 
sent  him,  and  refused  to  see  me  when  I  called.  I  discovered 
the  reason  for  his  strange  conduct  through  a  mutual  friend. 
He  had" gone  to  police  headquarters  for  the  information  I 
wanted,  as  he  promised  he  would.  Inquiry  was  made  there 
as  to  the  use  he  intended  to  make  of.  the  information,  and 


152 


RUSSIA: 


when  he  told  them  it  was  for  a  newspaper  correspondent 
from  the  United  States,  they  not  only  refused  to  give  it,  but 
warned  him  not  to  have  anything  farther  to  do  with  me,  at 
his  peril.  Although  he  was  a  man  of  prominence  in  the 
empire,  and  an  official  of  the  Czar's  household,  he  knew  that 
the  warning  was  quite  as  serious  as  if  it  had  come  from  the 
autocrat  himself,  and  he  dared  not  even  come  or  send  to  the 
hotel  for  an  overcoat  he  had  left  in  my  room.  When  I 
learned  what  the  trouble  was  I  wrote  him  a  note  of  sympathy 
and  regret,  but  doubt  if  he  dared  to  read  it. 

The  same  espionage  is 
exercised  over  the  tele- 
graph as  over  the  mails. 
A  correspondent  dares  not 
send  a  despatch  by  wire 
from  Petersburg  to  a 
newspaper.  It  would  nev- 
er be  delivered  if  it  con- 
;  tained  anything  objection- 
i  able  ;  and  if  it  did  not,  the 
[fact  of  his  having  sent 
r  such  a  message  would 
make  him  the  object  of 
suspicion  and  police  at- 
tention. Correspondents 
of  foreign  newspapers  in 
Russia  have  arrangements  by  which  they  send  their  news  by 
a  messenger  to  some  agent  across  the  border  who  opens  the 
envelope  and  telegraphs  its  contents. 

To  pay  for  all  this  trouble  and  annoyance  the  people  are 
taxed.  Upon  every  newspaper  received  at  an  hotel  or  private 
residence,  there  is  a  stamp  for  postage  dues,  like  that  on  an 
overweight  letter  in  the  United  States  ;  and  the  revenue  from 
this  source  goes  to  support  the  censorship.  There  is  a  simi- 
lar tax  in  Austria,  although  there  is  no  censor  there'.  In  the 
latter  country  a  publisher  cannot  lie  about  his  circulation. 
He  has  to  pay  so  many  kreutzers  (pennies)  on  every  copy 


A  JOURNEY. 


THE  PRESS  AND  THE  CENSOR.  l  ,  <, 

published,  and  each  copy  is  stamped  by  an  automatic 
machine  as  it  passes  through  the  press.  The  stamp  appears 
upon  the  margin  of  the  paper  near  the  title,  numbered,  so 
that  the  reader  knows  whether  his  copy  is  number  one  or  num- 
ber 18,756  of  the  edition  of  that  day.  The  machine  registers 
every  paper  passed  through  the  press,  and  the  revenue  col- 
lector comes  around  in  the  morning,  takes  down  the  number 
of  copies  printed,  re-adjusts  the  machine  for  the  next  edition, 
and  going  to  the  counting-room,  gets  his  money.  On  all 
newspapers  passing  through  the  mails  from  foreign  countries 
a  stamp  is  placed,  which  means  so  much  postage  due. 


RUSSIA: 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

ODD    FEATURES  OF    RUSSIAN   LIFE. 

Bewildering  Signboards. — The  Alphabet  with  Thirty-six  Letters. — 
Curious  Method  of  Selling  Cigars.— The  Hotels  and  Markets  of 
Petersburg. — Shopping  in  the  Gostinnoi-Dvor. — Silver  and  Gold 
Work. — Jewels  from  Siberia. — The  "  Thieves'  Market." 

ANY  one  who  is  troubled  with  nostalgia  will  find  Peters- 
burg a  dreary  place.  To  those  who  have  not  seen  the  East 
it  will  have  a  picturesqueness  that  cannot  be  found  in  any 
other  of  the  countries  of  Europe*,  and  everyone  will  find 
much  in  Russia  that  cannot  be  seen  elsewhere.  Oriental 
mysticism  has  a  stronger  hold  upon  the  country  than  Euro- 
pean civilization,  and  the  exclusive  policy  of  the  government 
protects  the  old  Tartar  and  Muscovite  customs  from  the 
spirit  of  progress.  But  there  is  nothing  in  all  the  strange- 
ness so  strange  as  the  signs  over  the  shop  doors. 

In  other  countries,  the  foreigner,  even  if  he  does  not  speak 
the  language,  will  find  the  letters  of  the  alphabet  the  same  as 
those  he  is  accustomed  to,  and  occasionally  catch  a  word  on  a 
sign  or  poster  that  looks  like  the  face  of  an  old  friend ;  but  in 
Russia,  it  is  bewildering  to  try  to  seek  one's  way  by  the  same 
means  that  are  used  elsewhere,  and  to  reconcile  one's  self  to 
the  Russian  letters  is  simply  impossible.  The  street  signs 
look  as  if  the  alphabet  was  on  a  strike,  and  a  lot  of  new 
letters  who  don't  understand  their  business  had  been  em- 
ployed in  the  places  of  the  old  ones.  The  letters  to  which  we 
are  accustomed  mean  usually  something  else  in  Russian  ;  our 
orthodox  P  is  their  R  :  they  make  some  of  our  letters  stand 
on  their  heads,  and  join  others  together  like  Siamese  twins 
or  diphthongs.  In  the  midst  of  these  contortions,  you  will 
sometimes  see  a  syllable  that  spells  something  you  are 


ODD  FEATURES   OF  RUSSIAN  LIFE. 


155 


accustomed  to,  but  you  find  its  meaning  is  entirely  different. 
Then  a  feeling  of  homesickness  comes  over  you,  and  you 
realize  how  far  away  from  anywhere  you  are.  The  name 
Moore  translated  into  Russian  appears  as  Mype,  the  name 
Cannon  appears  as  Kohhoh,  while  Curtis  is  Kepmuch,  and 
even  the  familiar  name  of  Moscow  is  transformed  to  Mockbe 
under  the  influence  of  the  spell.  Plain  honest  John  is 
HBAHA,  New  York  is  HPIOIOPKb,  and  Paris  is  ApAnne. 

In  other  cities  where  you  don't  know  the  language,  you 
can  get  about  by  writing  the  names  of  the  places  you  wish 
to  go  to,  the  numbers  and 
streets,  and  giving  the  paper 
to  a  cabman  ;  but  in  Russia 
even  that  is  useless.  In  the 
first  place  you  would  have  to 
know  the  Russian  language 
in  order  to  write  the  address, 
and  the  drosky  driver  would 
not  be  able  to  read  it  when  it 
was  written.  I  took  pains 
one  day  to  copy  the  sign  of 
a  shop  I  wanted  to  visit 
in  Russian  characters,  and 
handed  the  paper  to  the 
drosky  driver.  He  looked  at  it,  turned  it  upside  down,  and 
then  returned  it  to  me  with  a  mystified  shake  of  the  head. 
I  appealed  to  the  hotel  porter,  and  told  him  what  I  had 
done. 

"The  fellow  can't  read,"  he  replied  contemptuously. 
"  There  isn't  a  drosky  driver  in  all  Petersburg  who  would 
recognize  his  own  name  if  he  saw  it  in  print.  The  only  way 
for  you  to  do  is  to  tell  him  where  you  want  to  go,  and  he'll 
take  you.  He  knows  all  the  streets  and  the  principal  busi- 
ness houses,  and  can  tell  the  numbers  on  the  doors ;  but  he 
can  only  understand  spoken  language,  not  written." 

I  had  difficulty,  too,  in  getting  back  to  the  hotel.  In  any 
other  city  you  can  speak  the  name  of  your  hotel  and  any 


FRUIT  PEDLER. 


i56 


driver  will  take  you  there ;  but  in  Petersburg  the  Hotel  de 
PEurope  is  Europeiskayinski  Gostinnitza,  or  something  like 
that ;  and  it  took  a  long  time  to  learn  the  sounds.  Even  the 
word  St.  Petersburg  puzzled  me,  for  it  appears  in  print  as 
C.  IIETEPbYPyb,  and  pronounced  is  the  most  unintelligi- 
ble jargon. 

The  Russians  had  no  written  language  till  the  year  865, 
when  the  brothers  St.  Cyril  and  St.  Methodus  were  sent  by 
the  Emperor  Michael  to  the  Christian  princes  of  Moravia  to 
translate  the  Gospels  from  the  Greek  into  the  language  of 


HOTEL  DE  L'EUROPE. 

the  country.  For  this  purpose  these  two  pious  monks  in- 
vented the  barbarous  alphabet,  a  mixture  of  the  Arabic  and 
the  Greek,  and  when  they  could  find  no  letter  in  either  lan- 
guage to  represent  the  Russian  sound,  they  created  a  com- 
bination new  one.  There  are  thirty-six  letters  in  all,  and 
they  are  used  for  all  they  are  worth.  I  had  thought  the 
Germans  and  the  Hollanders  occupied  more  space  in  the 
world  with  their  names  than  is  necessary,  but  the  Russian 
people  are  worse  still. 

The  hotels  in  the  city  are  excellent.  The  Hotel  de  1'Europe, 
the  largest  and  most  expensive,  has  no  superior  in  any  city 
on  the  continent.  It  is  an  immense  building,  covering  half 


ODD  FEATURES  OF  RUSSIAN  LIFE. 


157 


WOMAN  &  CHILD. 


a  block,  with  elevators,  bath-rooms,  and  all  other  mod- 
ern improvements.  The  bath-room  of  the  apartments  we 
occupied  was  one  of  the  most  gorgeous  affairs  I  ever  saw. 
The  walls  were  hung  with  crimson,  and  the  windows  were 
set  in  red  glass,  which  imparted  a  ruddy  glow  to  the  body; 
while  the  tub  was  even  more  artistic, 
being  cut  out  of  a  solid  block  of  marble, 
six  feet  by  four,  in  oval  shape,  with  a 
swan  in  bronze  sitting  at  either  end, 
through  whose  bills  the  hot  and  cold 
water  came.  All  the  apartments  were 
luxuriously  furnished,  and  the  chande- 
liers, in  gilt  and  crystal,  were  big  enough 
and  resplendent  enough  to  adorn  a 
palace.  There  is  no  gas  in  the  house, 
nor  in  any  other  public  or  private  houses, 
gas  being  used  almost  exclusively  for  lighting  the  streets  and 
the  shops.  In  its  place  everybody  uses  candles.  The  chan- 
delier in  our  room  had  places  for  sixty  can- 
dles, and  when  they  were  lighted  the  effect 
was  superior  to  either  gas  or  electric  light. 
In  each  room  is  an  enormous  stove  made 
of  white  porcelain  in  the  shape  of  a  tomb- , 
stone,  with  an  urn  on  the  top,  exactly  as  if 
it  had  been  transferred  from  some  marble 
works  or  cemetery ;  and  the  sensation  of  < 
looking  at  it  in  the  moonlight  would  not 
be  calculated  to  soothe  the  slumbers  of  a 
nervous  man.  In  these  stoves  wood  is 
burned,  and  a  great  deal  of  fuel  is  re- 
quired, although  the  rooms  have  double 
windows  and  doors.  In  winter  the  windows 
are  ceiled  up,  and  are  not  opened  for  any 
purpose  till  spring. 

The  cooking  is  all  French,  and  most  of  the  cooks  are 
Swiss  or  Frenchmen.  The  meats  and  fish  are  particularly 
good,  but  there  is  a  lack  of  fre$h  vegetables,  scarcely  any- 


STREET    MUSI- 
CIAN. 


158 


RUSSIA: 


thing  but  peas,  beans,  cucumbers,  and  cabbage  being  obtain- 
able. At  the  large  hotels  the  waiters  usually  speak  English 
and  French  as  well  as  Russian ;  and,  in  fact,  the  former  lan- 
guages are  heard  more  than  that  of  the  country.  Prices  are 
nearly  the  same  as  in  other  first-class  hotels  in  Europe  and 
America.  Comfort  and  good  living  costs  about  as  much  in 
one  part  of  the  world  as  another.  Corresponding  accommo- 
dations at  the  Hotel  de  TEurope  can  be  had  for  the  same  sum 
that  one  would  pay  at  the  first-class  hotels  in  New  York,  an 
average  of  five  dollars  a  day,  but  with  fires,  wines,  baths,  and 


THE  DANCING   BEAR. 


other  comforts  extra.  If  a  parlor  is  wanted  in  addition  to 
the  bedroom,  and  it  is  usually  necessary,  as  there  is  never  a 
public  parlor,  the  increase  in  the  bill  is  about  the  same  as 
in  New  York.  Every  imported  article  is  expensive,  as  the 
custom  duties  are  high,  especially  on  wines  and  cigars ;  but 
the  native  wines  of  the  Crimea  are  as.  good  as  those  of 
France,  especially  the  red  wines  and  champagne. 

Tobacco  and  playing  cards  are  government  monopolies, 
and  shops  are  established  in  charge  of  revenue  officials  for 
their  sale.  The  Russians  are  habitual  gamblers,  both  ladies 
and  gentlemen,  and  no  party  gathers  for  an  evening  without 
engaging  in  games  of  chance.  There  are  plenty  of  clubs, 
but  they  are  little  else  than  gambling-houses,  and  are 
resorted  to  by  all  classes.  The  drosky  drivers  have  their 
resorts  as  well  as  the  nobles. 


ODD  FEATURES  OF  RUSSIAN  LIFE. 


159 


There  are  more  cigarettes  used  than  cigars,  and  very  little 
chewing  tobacco.  Cigars  are  sold  in  a  peculiar  manner,  by 
wholesale  alone.  Samples  are  hung-  on  a  card,  with  prices 
attached,  and  when  you  enter  the  shop  to  purchase,  the 
attendant  hands  you  down  the  card,  you  examine  the  dif- 
ferent colors  and  sizes,  select  that  which  suits  you,  and 
then  receive  a  box  containing  ten,  twenty-five,  fifty,  or  a 
hundred,  as  you  please.  All  the  boxes  have  covers  of  glass, 
so  that  the  purchaser  can  see  what  he  is  getting,  but  he  can- 
not open  the  box  or  break  the  seal.  If  he  does  he  must 
buy  it.  The  prices  are 
about  the  same  as  in  the 
United  States.  A  good 
Havana  cigar  costs 
from  twelve  to  twenty 
cents.  The  Russian 
cigarettes,  made  of  do- 
mestic tobacco  similar 
to  that  of  Turkey,  are 
very  good,  and  are  al- 
most exclusively  used,  r  V^J 
Ladies  always  smoke 
them  at  dinner,  and 
you  will  see  fifty  peo- 
ple using  cigarettes  to 
one  who  is  smoking  a 
cigar. 

The  markets  of  the  city  are  fine  and  well-ordered,  being 
as  neat  as  it  is  possible  to  be,  and  filled  with  tempting  prod- 
ucts. The  retail  shops  are  almost  exclusively  in  portails  or 
arcades,  like  those  of  the  Palais  Royal  or  the  Rue  de  Rivoli 
of  Paris,  The  principal  shopping-place  for  the  better  classes 
is  called  the  Gostinnoi-Dvor,  a  colossal  building,  covering 
an  area  as  great  as  three  or  four  blocks  in  New  York  or 
other  American  cities,  and  divided  into  small  shops  twenty 
feet  square  by  about  forty  deep. 

The  different  trades  are  classified,  which  adds  much  to  the 


A   RUSSIAN   RAILWAY   STATION. 


i6o 


RUSSIA: 


ease  and  convenience  of  the  buyers.  If  you  want  furs  you 
go  to  one  portion,  jewelry  to  another,  dress  goods  to  another, 
and  so  on.  Nearly  all  the  stock  is  in  the  show  windows,  and 
it  is  difficult  to  buy  anything  you  cannot  point  out  in  the  dis- 
play, for  if  you  don't  see  what  you  want  and  ask  for  it,  you 
are  usually  met  with  an  offer  to  send  it  to  your  rooms  at  the 
hotel  or  to  your  residence.  The  shopkeeper  goes  to  the 
wholesale  dealer  as  soon  as  your  back  is  turned,  and  bor- 
rows or  buys  what  you  want,  on  the  chance  of  selling  it.  A 
Russian  never  buys  anything  until  he  wants  it,  and  he  wants 

a  little  at  a  time.  Tea  is 
bought  by  the  ounce  for 
each  day's  consumption  ; 
coffee,  sugar,  and  other 
articles  in  a  similar  way. 
There  is  never  any  baking 
in  the  household,  for  all 
the  bread,  cakes,  and 
other  pastry  comes  from 
the  confectioners. 

Furs  are  cheaper  and 
finer  than  anywhere  else 
in  the  world,  and  are  used 
more  extensively  for  cloth- 
ing. The  mujik  uses  a 
sheepskin  for  a  coat,  while 
the  noble  wears  one  made  of  astrachan  or  some  other  of  the 
fur-bearing  animals  of  Siberia  or  the  steppes  of  Tartary. 
The  famous  Russian  sable,  the  most  expensive  fur  known, 
is  almost  obsolete,  it  is  so  scarce.  I  searched  over  all 
Petersburg  without  finding  any  of  the  genuine,  except  at  one 
shop,  where  there  were  a  few  skins  held  at  a  price  greater 
than  their  weight  in  gold.  There  is  plenty  of  imitation, 
however,  and  it  is  much  handsomer  as  well  as  cheaper  than 
the  original. 

The  authorities  allow  the  merchants  to  cheat  their  custom- 
ers in  everything  but  furs,  silver  and  gold  plate,  and  aclul- 


ENTRANCE  TO  THE  WINTER 
PALACE. 


ODD  FEA  TURKS   OF  RUSSIAN  LIFE,  l  ft  l 

terated  food.  The  latter  is  prohibited  from  sale  under  pen- 
alty of  imprisonment.  Imitation  furs  must  be  marked  so 
that  the  customer  may  tell  what  he  is  buying,  and  all  silver 
and  gold  must  bear  the  government  brand  to  attest  its  fine- 
ness. There  is  no  plated  silver  to  be  had,  but  the  shops  are 
full  of  the  genuine  solid  article,  in  every  possible  form  and 
for  every  possible  use,  and  it  is  generally  all  gilded.  You 
see  little  silver  in'  the  natural  state.  Spoons,  knives,  watches, 
chains,  articles  of  personal  adornment  in  every  possible 
variety,  plates,  platters,  cups,  goblets,  all  sorts  of  table-ware, 


A   BANK  CASHIER. 


are  made  of  silver  and  then  gilded  to  look  like  gold,  so  as  to 
gratify  the  Russian  taste  for  display.  The  solid  silver  dinner- 
service  of  the  Winter  Palace,  which  will  serve  three  thousand 
people,  is  gilded :  and  the  shops  along  the  Nevski  Prospect 
and  other  fine  streets  are  blazing  with  the  same  sort  of  stuff. 
But  the  merchant  must  inform  the  customer  of  the  character 
of  his  wares.  If  he  sells  gilded  silver  for  gold  he  goes  to 
prison.  The  ladies  of  the  country  load  themselves  with  orna- 
ments of  gilded  silver,  bracelets,  chains,  brooches,  pins,  and 
every  other  form  of  decoration.  Even  marble  and  wood  are 
gilded.  Everything  is  for  display. 


1 62 


RUSSIA: 


There  is  a  great  deal  of  enamel-work  in  colors  that  is 
beautiful  and  inexpensive,  particularly  that  which  comes 
from  the  Caucasus,  where  the  silversmiths  do  very  artistic 
work  in  enamel  and  filigree,  A  set  of  silver  spoons,  with 
the  handles  done  in  enamel  of  bright  colors,  is  very  hand- 
some and  not  expensive,  costing  perhaps  thirty  dollars  a 
dozen,  and  cannot  be  elsewhere  obtained.  The  Tartars  are 
ingenious  in  the  manipulation  of  metals,  like  the  Turks  and 
Chinese,  and  the  shops  of  the 
Gostinnoi-Dvor  are  filled  with  their 
products. 

The  jewels  and  precious  stones 
of  Siberia  are  of  great  variety  and 
beauty,  and  while  they  do  not 
command  the  prices  that  similar 
articles  from  other  mines  bring, 
are  very  popular  and  much  worn 
in  Russia.  The  Siberian  diamond 
will  not  hold  the  light  like  one 
from  Brazil  or  the  Cape,  but  looks 
so  much  like  it  that  it  can  scarce- 
ly be  distinguished  unless  placed 
,  in  juxtaposition,  when  its  lack  of 
lustre  is  shown.  Emeralds,  rubies, 
topazes,  turquoises,  and  similar 
stones  are  found  in  Siberia  in  great  quantities,  and  are  very 
brilliant  when  new,  but  do  not  hold  their  lustre,  and  require 
constant  polishing. 

The  most  interesting  shops  in  Russia  are  in  what  is  called 
the  "  Thieves'  Market,"  where  you  may  be  sure  that  every- 
thing you  see  is  stolen  property.  There  is  a  law  under 
which  a  merchant  in  the  thieves'  quarters  is  permitted  to  buy 
at  his  own  risk  from  anyone  who  comes  to  sell ;  and  after  a 
certain  time  has  been  given  the  owner  and  the  police  to 
recover  his  property,  he  may  expose  the  article  for  sale  to 
the  public.  The  pawn-shops  are  conducted  by  the  govern- 
ment, and  there  all  unredeemed  pledges  are  sold  at  public 


IN  THE   MEADOW. 


ODD  FEA  TURKS  OF  RUSSIAN  LIFE.  1 63 

auction  after  a  year  and  a  day  have  expired  ;  but  the  pur- 
chaser is  not  allowed  to  examine  the  goods  nor  purchase 
what  he  wills.  All  articles  are  put  up  in  the  order  of  their 
numbers,  like  unclaimed  packages  at  an  express  office,  and 
if  one  wants  to  bid  on  a  particular  article  he  must  wait  till  it 
is  reached  on  the  list.  In  the  "Thieves'  Market,"  however, 
there  is  no  pawning.  Everything  is  purchased  outright,  or 
left  by  the  thief  with  the  merchant  for  sale  on  commission. 


RUSSIAN  PEDLERS. 

Usually  a  thief  who  has  an  article  to  sell  is  compelled  to 
wait  thirty  days  before  he  receives  his  pay.  The  thieves 
are  usually  the  servants  of  the  higher  classes,  who  pilfer 
their  masters  and  mistresses  of  ornaments,  clothing,  china, 
books,  and  other  articles,  which  are  not  missed  till  long 
after  the  limit  of  exemption  from  recovery.  In  these  shops 
the  bric-a-brac  hunter  can  find  a  mine  of  curios  and  jewel- 
lery that  can  be  purchased  very  cheap.  I  found  china 
that  had  been  stolen  from  the  Winter  Palace  and  other 
imperial  residences,  and  was  told  that  after  an  entertain- 


164 


RUSSIA: 


ment  the  thieves'  quarter  was  always  fujl  of  it,  the  waiters 
carrying  it  away  under  their  coats.  We  knew  it  was  genu- 
ine by  the  marks  and  the  patterns,  for  we  had  been  through 
the  china  closets  of  the  palace  the  day  before.  All  sorts  of 
clothing,  hats,  boots,  shoes,  shirts,  cravats,  dresses,  skirts, 
stockings,  and  every  conceivable  article  that  enters  into  the 
use  of  men  and  women  can  be  purchased  in  the  thieves' 
quarter,  and  the  buyer  need  ask  no  questions.  An  article 
exposed  for  sale  there  that  has  not  been  stolen  is  as  rare  as 
an  honest  dealer. 


THE  CATHEDRALS  OF  PETERSBURG. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  CATHEDRALS  OF  PETERSBURG. 

The  Church  of  St.  Isaac's.— Said  to  be  the  Finest  Specimen  of  Greek 
Architecture  in  the  World. — The  Cathedral  of  Kazan,  where  the 
Czar  goes  to  Worship. — Devotion  of  the  Peasants. 

THE  churches  of  Petersburg  are  commonplace,  with  one 
exception,  and  do  not  compare  in  architectural  taste  and 
richness  with  those  of  any  city  of  its  importance.  The  one 
exception  is  the  church  of  St.  Isaac's,  a  splendid  structure 
of  the  most  costly  materials,  and  an  example  of  the  purest 
architecture,  but  unfortunately  with  foundations  so  insecure 
as  to  require  constant  repairs,  and  an  interior  arrangement 
so  peculiar  as  to  conceal  instead  of  display  its  richness.  St. 
Isaac's  is  severely  simple,  so  plain  that  one  whose  eyes  have 
become  accustomed  to  the  elaborate  ornamentation  of  the 
Gothic  cathedrals  of  the  continent,  has  to  study  it  awhile  to 
comprehend  its  beauty.  It  is,  however,  one  of  the  finest  and 
richest  specimens  of  the  pure  Greek  in  the  world,  and  the 
longer  and  oftener  one  looks  at  it,  the  greater  do  its  glories 
appear.  The  only  other  ecclesiastical  edifice  of  this  order 
of  architecture  that  can  compare  with  it  is  the  Church  of 
the  Saviour,  at  Moscow,  more  recently  built  and  on  the  same 
general  plan,  to  commemorate  the  destruction  of  Napoleon's 
army. 

The  gem  of  Petersburg  architecture  is  not  dedicated  to  the 
son  of  Abraham,  as  people  usually  infer,  but  to  St.  Isaac  of 
Dalmatia,  a  Greek  martyr.  Ever  since  the  foundation  of 
the  city  the  Russians  have  had  a  place  of  worship  on  this 
spot.  Under  Peter  a  wooden  edifice  was  erected  that  was 
destroyed  by  fire.  Then  Catherine  built  one,  which  was  fin- 


1 66 


RUSSIA: 


ished  in  1801,  but  did  not  suit  her.  With  the  reckless 
way  she  had  of  doing  things,  it  was  torn  down,  and  founda- 
tions laid  in  1809  for  what  was  to  be,  and  until  recently  has 
been,  the  finest  temple  in  the  empire. 

The  foundation  itself  is  a  wonder,  for  it  is  a  perfect  forest 
of  piles,  a  million  or  more  of  them,  sunk  in  the  marsh  on 
which  the  city  is  built,  at  a  cost  of  a  million  and  a  half  dol- 
lars ;  but  even  this  work  is  not  sufficient  to  carry  the  enor- 
mous weight  of  stone  resting  upon  it,  and  for  more  than  fifty 
years  all  the  engineers  of  the  empire  have  been  experiment- 
ing at  an  enormous  cost 
to  make  it  more  secure, 
without  great  success. 
The  walls  towards  the 
river  are  gradually  sink- 
ing, and  there  seems  to 
be  no  way  to  prevent  it. 
Enormous  scaffolding 
continually  conceals  the 
walls,  destroying  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  building, 
but  giving  continual  em- 
ployment to  a  large  num- 
ber of  workmen  who 
CHURCH  OF  ST.  ISAAC'S.  undoubtedly  need  the 

money  more  than  the  church.  The  total  cost  of  the  building 
originally  was  sixteen  million  dollars,  three  million  more 
than  the  Capitol  at  Washington  ;  but  the  repairs  since  it  was 
completed  in  1858  have  been  enormous. 

The  building  is  in  the  form  of  a  Greek  cross,  like  all  the 
Russian  churches,  each  of  the  four  grand  entrances  being 
approached  by  three  broad  flights  of  steps,  each  flight 
composed  of  a  single  block  of  granite  brought  from  Finland 
on  sledges  over  the  snow.  The  level  roads  and  the  snow 
makes  possible  in  Russia  the  transportation  of  large  masses 
of  rock  from  the  Finland  quarries,  that  could  not  be  carried 
on  wheels  or  railway  tracks.  These  steps  lead  from  the  four 


THE  CA  THEDRA LS  OF  PE TERSB URG.  j  £7 

sides   of   the   building   to   the  four  grand  entrances,  each  of 
which  has  a  superb  peristyle. 

Each  portico  has  112  massive  pillars  of  polished  granite 
60  feet  high,  with  a  diameter  of  seven  and  a  half  feet ;  the 
finest  assemblage  of  granite  monoliths  in  the  world,  all  from 
the  same  quarry  in  Finland.  The  pillars  are  crowned  with 
capitals  of  bronze.  Over  the  peristyles,  and  at  twice  their 
height,  rises  the  chief  and  central  dome  296  feet,  supported 


INTERIOR  OF  ST.  ISAAC'S. 

by  30  pillars,  which,  although  gigantic  in  size,  look  small  com- 
pared with  those  below.  The  dome  is  covered  with  copper, 
overlaid  with  gold  bullion,  hammered  to  the  thinness  of 
the  American  dollar.  The  value  of  the  gold  upon  this  roof 
is  nearly  a  million  roubles,  and  it  glitters  in  the  sun  with 
amazing  brilliancy.  Very  naturally,  the  dome  of  St.  Isaac's, 
reaching  far  above  anything  else,  and  so  bright,  \$  the 
most  conspicuous  object  in  the  city,  and  can  be  seen  for 
miles  around  the  country  like  a  golden  mountain. 

At  the  crest  is  a  miniature  dome,  an  exact   copy  of   the 


1 68 


RUSSIA : 


great  one  beneath,  looking  like  a  little  chapel,  and  that  is 
surmounted  by  a  golden  cross,  the  tip  of  which  is  356  feet 
from  the  ground.  The  Washington  monument  is  555  feet 
high,  the  dome  of  St.  Peter's  at  Rome  448  feet,  and  the 
Goddess  of  Liberty  who  stands  guard  at  the  top  of  the 
Capitol  at  Washinton  is  360  feet  from  the  ground,  or  four  feet 
higher  than  St.  Isaac's.  The  dome  of  St.  Isaac's  is  not  so 
cone-like  as  the  dome  of  the  Capitol,  but  is  of  the  Byzan- 
tine order,  the  shape  of  a  turnip. 


AN   IKON-ASTAS. 

Four  small  domes,  exact  duplicates  of  the  church  in  minia- 
ture, are  placed  at  the  four  corners  of  the  edifice,  and  com- 
plete what  is  considered  the  most  harmonious  and  beautiful 
piece  of  architecture  of  the  Greek  school.  The  embellish- 
ment of  the  fagade  has  occupied  the  lives  and  genius  of  some 
of  the  most  celebrated  artists  in  Europe,  some  portions  being 
the  work  of  natives,  but  the  greater  part  done  by  French- 
men and  Italians.  The  great  doors,  44  feet  wide  by 
^6  feet  high,  are  of  bronze,  and  represent  in  relievo,  the  in- 
cidents in  the  life  of  the  Saviour.  I  should  say  here  that  the 


THE  CATHEDRALS  OF  PETERSBURG. 


169 


Greek  Church  elevates  the  Saviour  above  the  Virgin,  and 
one  of  the  bitterest  reproaches  directed  toward  the  Church 
of  Rome  is  that  it  worships  a  woman.  The  exterior  of  St. 
Isaac's  is  adorned  with  198  figures  in  bronze  representing 
religious  subjects. 

The  interior  demonstrates  what  the  mines  and  quarries  of 
Russia  are  capable  of,  for  all  the  material  is  of  domestic  pro- 
duction and  all  the  Ivbor  was  done  by  Russian  workmen,  al- 
though foreign  artists  have  been  engaged  to  furnish  designs. 
Nothing  can  exceed  the 
simplicity  of  the  model. 
No  style  of  decoration 
could  be  more  severe ; 
no  meretricious  orna- 
mentation meets  the 
eye,  but  the  architect 
has  permitted  the  effect 
to  be  produced  by  stu- 
pendous proportions 
and  costliness  of  mate- 
rials. There  is  no- 
where in  the  world, 
except  in  the  new 
Church  of  the  Saviour 
at  Moscow,  such  an  as-  WHERE  THE  LATE  CZAR  WAS 
semblage  of  rare  stones.  ASSASSINATED. 

There  are  pillars  of  malachite,  columns  of  lapis-lazuli, 
friezes  and  wainscoting  of  both  materials  whose  proportions 
exceed  anything  that  has  hitherto  been  done  in  those  beau- 
tiful materials  ;  and  a  great  part  of  the  floor  is  of  jasper, 
so  slippery  that  matting  has  to  be  spread  for  people  to  walk 
upon.  The  attendants  keep  slippers  of  felt  for  tourists 
to  draw  over  their  shoes  when  they  inspect  the  interior  of  St. 
Isaac's,  to  save  them  from  broken  banes.  The  columns  of 
lapis-lazuli  came  from  the  mines  of  Siberia,  and  the  cost  of 
transporting  them  to  Petersburg  was  $30,000  each.  TrTe 
malachite  columns  and  pillars  are  also  from  Siberia,  from 


i  ;o 


RUSSIA : 


the  quarries  belonging  to  the  Government,  and  the  cost  of 
their  transportation  was  enormous,  but  not  so  great.  The 
jasper  comes  from  the  same  place. 

The  inmost  shrine,  or  sanctuary,  corresponding  to  the 
altar  of  the  Roman  church,  and  called  the  Ikon-astas,  in- 
to which  women  are  never  admitted,  is  a  small  circular 
temple,  a  model  of  the  dome  of  the  church — for  the  same 
design  is  repeated  everywhere — supported  by  pillars  of 
malachite  eight  feet  high,  with  capitals  and  bases  of  gilded 
copper.  The  cost  of  this  work  was  $200,000.  There  is  a  fine 


MICHAEL   PALACE. 


window  of  stained  glass  by  a  Russian  artist,  representing  the 
ascension  of  the  Saviour.  The  effect  is,  however,  destroyed 
by  gilding  the  lead  in  which  the  glass  is  set.  The  Russians 
gild  everything. 

The  walls  of  the  interior  are  decorated  with  large  pictures 
in  mosaic  or  distemper  by  Russian  artists,  and  the  work  is 
still  going  on,  only  a  third  or  more  of  the  surface  being  so  far 
covered,  although  it  is  the  intention  to  decorate  all  the  pan- 
els in  a  similar  way.  When  the  church  is  finished,  the 
entire  interior,  with  the  exception  of  the  columns  and  other 
work  of  malachite  and  rare  stone,  will  be  covered  with 
mosaics  and  frescoes,  and  the  effect  will  be  very  fine.  As  it  is 
now,  the  interior  is  too  dark  to  display  the  beautiful  work- 


THE  CATHEDRALS  OF  PETERSBURG. 


I/I 


manship.  The  colors  on  the  walls  wi-11  light  it  up.  There  are 
some  fine  statues  and  silver  shrines  in  the  interior,  but  very 
few  compared  with  the  older  churches. 

Service  is  held  at  St.  Isaac's  daily  and  almost  continuously. 
Strangers  in  the  city  usually  attend  to  hear  the  music,  which 
is  the  most  effective  part 
of  the  service.  The  sing- 
ing of  the  monks  justifies 
its  fame.  Women  are  not 
permitted  to  take  part  in 
the  service,  neither  is  any- 
one whose  life  is  not  con- 
secrated to  the  duty.  Nor 
are  musical  instruments 
of  any  sort  permitted,  not 
even  a  tuning  fork ;  but 
there  is  a  trained  choir  of 
boys  and  monks,  whose 
voices  are  superb,  and  one 
can  hear  no  finer  music 
than  they  give.  For  this 
choir  all  the  convents  and 
monasteries  in  Russia 
furnish  material.  Young 
boys  are  educated  ex- 
pressly for  the  soprano 
parts,  and  when  their 
voices  change,  others  are 
found  to  take  their  places. 

r™    u      ,.       ,   ,     CATHEDRAL  OF  SS.  PAUL  &  PETER. 

I  he  boys  afterwards  be- 
come monks  or  priests.  The  basses  are  especially  fine, 
and  in  the  choir  I  heard  voices  that  would  make  a  sensation 
on  the  operatic  stage.  The  effect  of  the  music  is  heightened 
by  the  appearance  of  the  monks,  who  do  not  sit  as  the  choirs 
of  other  churches  do,  but  stand  in  a  semi-circle  two  or  three 
rows  deep,  as  the  case  may  be,  in  front  of  the  Ikon-astas,  or 
altar.  Russian  priests  and  monks  may  never  cut  their  hair 


1/2 


RUSSIA  : 


or  beards,  and  wear  long  gowns  of  black,  with  peculiar  head- 
dresses, stove-pipe  hats  without  brims,  covered  with  crape, 
which  hang  down  over  their  shoulders  like  a  widow's  veil. 

The  service  is  all  chanting,  all  harmony,  but  no  melody. 
There  are  often  solos  for  the  tenor  or  bass  voices,  which  are 
finely  rendered,  but  they  are  always  in  a  monotone.  The 
severest  test  that  can  be  applied  in  music  is  the  recitative, 


A   PEASANT   MARRIAGE. 

and  the  Russian  masses  are  composed  of  nothing  else. 
There  are  no  offertories  or  Ave  Marias,  no  chance  for  the 
display  of  a  fine  voice,  but  simply  a  series  of  harmonious 
chords,  full  and  round  like  the  diapason  of  an  orchestra. 

The  only  other  fine  church  in  Petersburg  .is  the  Cathedral 
of  our  Lady  of  Kazan,  the  head  of  the  diocese.  The  saint 
to  whom  this  church  is  dedicated  is  the  most  popular  on  the 
Greek  calendar,  and  is  supposed  to  have  the  Russian  empire. 


THE  CATHEDRALS  OF  PETERSBURG. 


173 


particularly  under  her  charge.  Her  portrait,  kept  here,  per- 
forms miracles,  and  so  obtained  her  fame  in  the  city  of 
Kazan  more  than  a  thousand  years  ago.  She  was  brought 
to  Moscow  in  1579,  and  to  Petersburg  in  1821,  when  this 
cathedral  was  finished  to  receive  her.  All  the  Emperors  and 
Empresses  kneel  at  her  shrine  before  setting  out  upon  a 
journey,  or  undertaking  any  important  act,  and  implore  her 
assistance  and  protection.  Before  the  Czar  is  crowned  he 
spends  several  hours  in  devotion  to  her  image,  with  his 
imperial  forehead  pressed 
upon  the  floor,  contemplating 
his  sins  and  beseeching  her 
intercession  ;  and  to  her  he 
comes  upon  a  return  from  a 
journey,  or  after  some  great 
emergency  has  passed,  to 
offer  thanksgiving  and  make 
vows.  Alexander  is  said  to 
have  spent  an  entire  night  in 
prayer  to  this  image  before 
his  campaign  against  the 
great  Napoleon.  When  he 
returned  victorious,  and  the 
remnants  of  Napoleon's  shat- 
tered army  were  floundering 

through  the   Russian  snows,  MunR  AT  pRAYER 

Alexander  came  to  the  shrine 

again  and  spent  another  night  in  thanksgiving.  The  pre- 
sent Czar  went  at  once  to  our  Lady  of  Kazan  to  seek 
consolation  upon  the  assassination  of  his  father,  and  is  a 
frequent  worshipper  at  her  shrine.  The  people  of  St. 
Petersburg  say  that  when  the  Czar  comes  to  the  cathedral  it 
is  a  sure  sign  that  something  important  has  happened,  or 
is  to  happen  soon. 

The  miraculous  picture  of  the  Virgin  is  covered  by  a  screen 
of  solid  gold,  embossed  and  heavily  loaded  with  jewels  pre- 
sented by  those  whom  she  has  interceded  for ;  and  there  is 


174 


XUSSfA: 


one  emerald  said  to  be  worth  fifty  thousand  dollars.  A  huge 
sapphire  in  the  collection  was  the  gift  of  a  Grand  Duchess 
fifty  years  ago. 

The  Cathedral  of  Kazan  is  a  plagiarism  of  St.  Peter's  in 
Rome,  .although  of  course  upon  a  much  smaller  scale.  It 
was  erected  in  1802  during  the  reign  of  Catherine,  is  238 
feet  long,  182  feet  wide,  and  has  a  dome  230  feet  high. 
There  is  a  semi-circular  colonnade,  in  imitation  of  St.  Peter's, 


A   RUSSIAN   JEW. 

supported  by  fifty-six  monoliths  of  Finland  granite  thirty-five 
feet  high,  resting  on  pedestals  of  bronze  and  terminating  in 
capitals  of  the  same.  The  Ikon-astas  is  of  solid  silver,  as 
well  as  the  balustrade  that  surrounds  it,  and  bears  an 
inscription  to  announce  that  it  was  a  thank-offering  of  the 
Don  Cossacks  after  the  campaign  against  Napoleon  in  1812. 
The  church  is  full  of  trophies  of  the  war  against  France,  as 
the  Virgin  of  Kazan  is  supposed  to  have  been  influential  in 


THE  CATHEDRALS  AT  PETERSBURG. 


securing  victory  for  the  Russian  arms,  and  the  common 
people  will  tell  you  that  without  her  intercession  Alexander 
could  have  done  nothing  against  the  invader.  The  two 
great  generals  of  that  war,  Field  Marshals  Tolly  and 
Kutusof,  are  honored  by  fine  bronze  statues  that  stand 
before  the  church. 

There  are  plenty  of  other  churches  in  Petersburg,  and 
many  of  them  contain  rich  offerings  of  silver,  gold,  and 
precious  stones ;  but  they 
are  not  worth  visiting  ex- 
cept to  see  the  treasures, 
of  which  one  becomes  veryv 
tired.  There  are  diamonds  ' 
enough  in  the  churches  to 
make  every  distressed  fam- 
ily in  the  empire  comfort- 
able, and  to  build  school- 
houses  in  every  town  ;  there 
is  gilding  enough,  and  ves- 
sels of  silver  and  gold 
enough,  to  clothe  all  the 
naked  and  feed  all  the 
hungry  in  Russia  ;  but  the ' 
veneration  of  the  people  is ' 
so  great  that  the  beggars 
who  sit  before  the  doors  of  the  churches  give  half  the  alms 
they  receive  to  enrich  the  overflowing  treasuries  of  the 
priests. 

The  Israelites  were  taught  to  pay  tithes,  to  give  one-tenth 
of  their  incomes  to  the  Lord,  but  the  Russian  mujik  gives 
half  he  possesses,  and  often  more,  to  justify  his  hope  in 
heaven.  The  churches  are  always  full  of  devotees.  You 
can  never  find  one  empty.  Usually  there  are  from  fifty  to 
two  hundred  wretched  creatures  with  their  foreheads  on  the 
pavement,  before  the  image  of  the  Saviour,  and  their  lips 
muttering  prayers.  It  is  not  well  to  get  too  near  them,  for 
the  Russian  peasant  seldom  takes  a  bath,  seldom  removes 


A  RUSSIAN  BRIDE. 


176 


RUSSIA : 


his  clothes  till  they  fall  to  pieces,  and  the  purpose  of  a  comb 
is  unknown  to  him.  His  hair  and  beard  are  worn  long  and 
thick,  and  the  consequences  can  be  imagined.  One  always 
feels  like  rushing  straight  to  a  bath-tub  when  he  leaves  a 
Russian  church  ;  and  when  he  perceives  a  peculiarly  pungent 
odor,  something  his  olfactories  have  not  known  before,  he 
may  be  sure  there  is  a  mujik  very  near  him. 

One  sees  more  men  than  women  in  the  churches,  which  is 
exactly  the  reverse  of  what  is  the  case  in  Roman  Catholic 
countries.  This  is  explained  by  the  fact  that  the  women  are 
detained  at  their  homes,  while  every  man  in  town,  no  matter 
what  his  engagements  are,  be  he  laborer  or  drosky  driver, 
merchant  or  banker,  never  fails  to  entet  the  church  and  say 
a  prayer  or  two  once  a  day. 


THE  RUSSIAN-GREEK  CHURCH. 


177 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE   RUSSIAN-GREEK   CHURCH. 

Riches  of  Alexander  Nevski  Monastery. — Difference  between  the  Greek 
and  Roman  Catholic  Creeds. — The  Worship  of  Icons. — The  Black 
and  White  Clergy. — Hardships  of  the  Russian  Priests. — How  they 
are  Married. — The  Morals  of  the  People. 

AT  one  end  of  the  Nevski  Prospect,  the  great  thoroughfare 
of  Petersburg,  the  Fifth  Avenue  of  the  city,  is  the  Palace  of 
the  Admiralty,  over  which  the  Grand  Duke  Alexis  presides, 
with  its  needle-like  spire,  and  at  the  other  end  ihe  great 
Monastery  of  St.  Alexander  Nevski,  from  which  the  street 
gets  its  name.  It  is  the  Westminster  Abbey  of  Russia,  one 
of  the  largest,  wealthiest  and  most  celebrated  of  all  the 
Russian  houses  of  seclusion,  the  seat  of  a  Metropolitan,  the 
residence  of  some  of  the  most  famous  scholars  in  the  empire, 
and  endowed  with  enormous  wealth.  The  monastery  occu- 
pies extensive  grounds  just  on  the  limits  of  the  city,  which 
are  enclosed  by  walls,  and  protect  a  number  of  churches, 
towers,  dormitories,  cloisters,  and  other  buildings  devoted  to 
both  secular  and  religious  purposes.  This  monastery  was 
founded  by  Peter  the  Great  when  he  built  St.  Petersburg,  in 
honor  of  the  Grand  Duke  Alexander,  who  in  1241  fought  a 
great  battle  on  the  very  spot  where  the  cathedral  now  stands, 
drove  the  Swedish  invaders  out  of  the  country,  and  for  his 
great  piety  and  military  services  was  canonized  three  hun- 
dred years  afterwards. 

The  church  and  monastery  were  completed  in  1711,  when 
the  remains  of  St.  Alexander  were  brought  there  from  their 
resting-place  at  the  convent  of  Vladimir,  with  ceremonies  of 
great  pomp,  and  placed  in  a  massive  silver  shrine,  which  con- 
tains nearly  two  tons  of  pure  metal,  and  is  decorated  with 

12 


1 78 


RUSSIA: 


the  most  beautiful  chased  work  illustrating  scenes  in  his  life. 
The  design  is  pyramidal,  surmounted  by  a  catafalque  and 
angels  as  big  as  men,  of  solid  silver. 

The  church  is  very  gorgeous  and  filled  with  magnificent  or- 
naments, but  the  exterior  is  shabby.  The  crown  of  St.  Alex- 
ander and  the  bed  on  which  Peter  the  Great  died  are  among 
the  most  precious  of  the  relics  ;  and  there  are  paintings  on  the 
walls  much  superior  to  what  we  find  in  other  Russian  churches, 

by  Raphael,  Murillo,  Guido 
Reni,  and  other  famous 
artists.  The  Nevski  monks 
got  most  of  the  presents 
that  were  sent  to  Russia  by 
the  Shah  of  Persia  in  1829, 
when  the  Russian  ambassa- 
dor was  cruelly  murdered  at 
Teheran.  These  gifts  con- 
sisted of  a  train  of  rare  an- 
imals, precious  fabrics,  gold 
stuffs,  and  jewels,  a  sort 
of  peace-offering  to  recon- 
cile the  Czar  to  the  loss  of 
his  diplomatic  agent.  The 
caravan  reached  Petersburg 
in  the  dead  of  winter.  The 
pearls  and  other  jewels, 
and  the  gold  stuffs  were  carried  in  large  silver  and  gold  dishes 
by  magnificently-dressed  natives.  The  Persian  Prince  in 
charge  of  the  caravan,  Khosra  Mirza,  was  in  a  state  carriage 
drawn  by  thirty  white  horses;  the  elephants  bore  on  their 
backs  howdahs  filled  with  Indian  warriors,  and  wore  leather 
boots  to  protect  them  from  the  cold,  while  the  cages  of  the 
lions  and  tigers  were  sewn  up  in  skins  of  the  polar  bear. 
The  animals  soon  died  from  the  severity  of  the  climate,  but 
the  gold  and  jewels  were  given  by  the  Czar  to  the  Nevski 
Monastery,and  are  still  kept  in  the  treasury  with  other  things 
of  the  same  sort. 


TOWER  OF  THE   ADMIRALTY. 


THE  RUSSIAN-GREEK  CHURCH. 


There  are  a  large  number  of  beautiful  vestments  in  this 
monastery,  as  fine  as  can  be  found  in  any  cathedral  in  Europe. 
The  vestments  of  the  archbishop  at  Notre  Dame,  Paris,  which 
are  shown  to  visitors,  will  not  compare  with  them  in  richness 
or  costliness.  Any  one  article  in  the  collection  would  attract 
attention  elsewhere,  but  heri,  en  the  great  mass,  one  becomes 
bewildered.  In  the  library  connected  with  the  monastery 
are  a  large  number  of  rare  manuscripts  and  historical  doc- 
uments presented  to  it  from  time  to  time  by  the  Czars.  The 
crypt  of  the  Church  of  the  Annunciation,  connected  with  the 
convent,  contains  the  tombs  of  many  illustrious  Russians,  and 
some  fine  carvings.  In 
the  cemetery  adjoining, 
the  aristocracy  of  Peters- 
burg bury  their  dead,  and 
large  sums  are  paid  for 
the  privilege.  I  have 
heard  of  men  who  left 
their  families  impover- , 
ished  by  giving  their  en- 
tire estate  for  the  privi- 
lege  of  having  their  KAZAN  CATHEDRAL. 

bones  lie  at  St.  Alexander,  Nevski.  In  one  of  the  churches 
the  remains  of  Catherine's  unfortunate  husband  lay  for  many 
years,  till  they  were  removed  to  the  Church  of  Peter  and 
Paul,  where  the  bodies  of  the  other  sovereigns  are  buried. 
Here  too  was  imprisoned  for  awhile  the  first  wife  of  Peter 
the  Great.  Here  Alexander  I.  came  to  listen  to  his  own 
funeral  sermon  before  setting  off  with  his  wife  for  the  South, 
whence  he  never  returned.  In  the  crypt  is  the  tomb  of 
General  Suvaroff,  whose  epitaph  is  : 

"  HERE  LIES  SUVAROFF,  CELEBRATED  FCTR  HIS  WIT,  HIS  MIL- 
ITARY RENOWN  AND  HIS  PRACTICAL  JOKES.  " 

The  singing  at  the  services  at  St.  Alexander  Nevski  C£the- 
dral  is  very  fine,  and  there  is  a  good  deal  of  rivalry  on  this 
score  with  St.  Isaac's.  It  is  fashionable  for  people  to  drop  in 


i8o 


KUSS1A: 


to  hear  the  singing  at  the  evening  services  at  five  o'clock, 
when  they  are  out  driving  on  the  Nevski  Prospect. 

There  are  no  seats  in  any  of  the  Russian  churches  except 
for  the  Metropolitan  and  the  Emperor.  Every  one  else 
stands  or  kneels.  The  Russian  system  of  worship  is  quite  a 
gymnastic  performance,  and  well  calculated  to  develop  the 
muscles  of  the  back  and  neck,  for  at  frequent  intervals  the 
worshipper  has  to  bow  till  his  forehead  touches  the  floor. 
The  sight  of  several  hundred  people  all  kneeling  with  their 

foreheads  pressed  to  the  floor 
is  quite  impressive,  and  when  it 
is  accompanied  with  the  chant- 
ing of  the  monks,  the  effect  is 
not  soon  forgotten. 

The  difference  between  the 
i]\\  Greek  and  Roman  Catholic 
Churches  is  much  more  material 
'than  one  who  has  given  the 
subject  no  study  would  suppose. 
The  Greek  claims  to  be  the 
original  Church  founded  by  the 
Apostles,  and  one  who  has  read 
the  able  argument  of  the  late 
Dean  Stanley  on  the  subject 
will  find  it  difficult  to  doubt 
that  it  is  so.  It  cannot  be  proven  that  St.  Peter  ever  was 
in  Rome,  much  less  can  it  be  shown  that  he.  founded  a 
Church  there.  It  is  easy  of  demonstration,  on  the 
contrary,  that  he  did  establish  Churches  in  Greece  and 
Syria,  where  the  Greek  forms  always  have  prevailed. 
All  the  works  of  the  Apostles  were  in  Greek.  All  the 
fathers  of  the  Church  from  St.  Paul  of  Tarsus  to  St. 
Jerome  were  of  Greece  and  Syria,  and  none  from  Italy  or 
any 'of  the  Latin  nations.  All  the  rites  and  ceremonies  of 
the  Roman  Church  testify  by  their  nomenclature  to  their 
Greek  origin,  and  all  the  traditions  as-well  as  the  gospels 
are  written  in  that  language.  In  the  fourth  century  the 


THE   METROPOLITAN. 


THE  RUSSIAN-GREEK  CHURCH. 


181 


first  jealousies  between  the  Romish  and  the  Grecian 
Churches  broke  out,  which  continued  growing  bitter  and 
more  bitter  till  the  total  separation  in  858  over  the  elec- 
tion of  a  Pontiff  or  Metropolitan,  when  Pope  Nicholas 
excommunicated  his  rival  Pope  Photius,  and  Photius  re- 
turned the  compliment  by  excommunicating  him.  Since 
then  the  two  branches  of  the  faith  have  been  bitterly 
antagonistic. 


BLACK   PRIEST. 


As  so  little  is  known  about  the  Grasco- Russian  Church, 
the  following  points  on  which  it  differs  from  the  Roman 
Church  will  be  found  interesting. 

1.  It  denies  the  primacy  of  the   Pope  of  Rome;  denies 
his  authority  or  descent  from  St.  Peter,  and  rejects  the  doc- 
trine of  human  infallibility. 

2.  It  denies  that  the  Holy  Ghost  proceeds  from  the   Son. 

3.  It  rejects  purgatory,  predestination,  indulgences,  dispen- 
sations, and  works  of  supererogation,  although  admitting  the 
intercession  of  the  saints  by  prayer, 


182 


RUSSIA  : 


4.  It  holds  to  the  necessity  of  complete  immersion  of  the 
body  at  baptism,  except  in  cases  of  extreme  emergency.  A 
dying  infant  may  be  baptised  by  a  layman  with  the  bap- 
tismal formula,  but  the  words  "You  are  baptised  in  the 
name,"  etc.,  must  be  used  in  such  cases  instead  of  the  reg- 
ular formula,  "  I  baptise  thee,"  etc.  In  case  a  priest  should 
arrive  before  the  death  of  the  child  the  ceremony  must  be 
repeated. 

5.  While  admitting 
the  doctrine  of  tran- 
substantiation  in  regard 
to  the  eucharist,  it  af- 
firms that  the  holy 
bread  must  be  leaven- 
ed, the  wine  and  water 
being  placed  in  the 
chalice,  and  it  is  only 
the  prayer  of  tran- 
f  substantiation  that  part 
of  the  agnus  is  placed 
in  the  chalice.  The 
element  of  wine  with 
water  is  alone  admin- 
istered to  children  up 
to  the  age  of  seven 
years,  for  fear  of  the 
sacred  elements  being 
ejected  or  falling  to  the  ground. 

6.  Marriage  is  obligatory  on  the  part  of  the  clergy,  but  a 
priest  may  continue  to  serve  after  his  wife  dies. 

7.  No  instrumental  music  is  allowed  in  churches,  and  no 
women  can  take  part  in  the  service. 

8.  All  images  of  the  Saviour  or  saints  are  rejected  as  idola- 
trous, but  pictures  or  mosaics,  or   any  representation   upon 
a  flat  surface,  are  allowed,  under  the  commandment,  "Thou 
shalt  not  make  unto  thyself  any  graven  image," 


A    COUNTRY   VILLAGE. 


THE  RUSSIAN-GREEK  CHURCH. 


183 


9.  Priests  must  wear  beards.  They  are  not  allowed  to 
deface  the  image  of  God  by  shaving. 

The  importance  of  outward  forms  is  much  more  insisted 
upon  in  the  Russian  than  in  the  Roman  Church.  Prayer 
must  be  uttered  with  the  body  prostrate,  with  the  forehead 
upon  the  floor  as  among  the  Moslems,  and  the  form  of  the 
cross  must  be  made  with  three  fingers.  A  long  and  bloody 
war  once  resulted  from  a  difference  of  opinion  on  this  point, 
as  the  three  fingers  signify  the  Trinity  of  the  Godhead. 
Every  outward  form  that 
symbolizes  the  Trinity  is 
especially  insisted  upon. 
An  Archbishop  of  Nov- 
gorod once  declared  that 
those  who  repeated  the 
word  Hallelujah  only  twice 
instead  of  three  times  in 
singing  would  be  damned. 

Toward  their  Icons,  as 
the  pictures  of  the  Saviour 
and  the  saints  are  called, 
the  people  show  the  great- 
est veneration,  and  one  or 
more  hangs  in  every  house 
in  Russia,  even  in  the  busi- 
ness offices.  Whoever  en- 
ters a  store  or  a  house  in  which  one  of  these  pictures  is 
hanging  must  remove  his  hat,  or  he  is  liable  to  be  asked  to 
do  so.  The  Icons  are  always  covered  with  screens  of  metal, 
with  the  exception  of  the  face  and  the  hands  of  the  saint. 
This  is  because  no  man  can  conceive  of  the  apparel  of  the 
inhabitants  in  heaven. 

In  the  report  which  was  made  to  Queen  Elizabeth  of  Eng- 
land by  George  Tuberville,  who  was  sent  with  an  embassy 
to  Ivan  the  Terrible,  the  manners  of  the  Russians  are 
described  in  quaint  verse.  He  says  : 


CLEANLINESS  NEXT  TO 
GODLINESS. 


1 84 


&USSIA: 


"  Their  idols  have  their  hearts,  on  God  they  never  call, 
Unless  it  be  Nichola  Baugh  that  hangs  against  the  wall. 
The  house  that  hath  no  God  or  painted  saint  within, 
Is  not  to  be  resorted  to, — that  roof  is  filled  with  sin." 

The  numerous  Icons,  covered  usually  with  sheaths  of  gold, 
and  studded  with  precious  stones  as  they  often  are,  give  a 
wondrous  richness  to  the  interior  of  a  Russian  church, 
heightened  by  the  lights  that  are  continually  burning  before 
them.  Every  worshipper  buys  a  candle,  lights  it,  and  places 
it  in  a  rack  made  for  the  purpose 
before  the  Icon  of  his  favorite 
saint.  The  prayers  are  supposed 
to  ascend  to  heaven  on  the  flames. 
Not  only  are  Icons  to  be  found 
in  all  the  houses  and  business 
places  of  Russia,  but  they  are 
frequently  to  be  seen  in  little 
//  chapels  and  kiosks  in  the  streets. 
:  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  Nevski 
Prospect  from  the  hotel  in  which 
we  lived  was  one  of  the  most  fam- 
.  ou.s  Icons  in  Petersburg,  the  pict- 
ure of  a  saint  which  is  supposed  to 
watch  over  the  interests  of  com- 
merce-—  the  patron  of  trade.  During  the  business  hours  of 
the  day,  from  sunrise  to  sunset,  in  fact,  the  little  chapel  in 
which  it  stands  was  crowded  with  people,  merchants,  clerks, 
artisans,  laborers,  and  all  classes  of  the  community,  who 
bought  and  lighted  candles  first,  and  then  bowed  to  pray  for 
prosperous  results  from  the  day's  trade,  each  leaving  some 
contribution  for  the  benefit  of  the  church  as  a  peace-offer- 
ing. 

It  is  a  curious  and  interesting  sight  to  see  the  devoutness 
with  which  the  sanctuary  is  approached.  Not  a  drosky 
driver  would  pass  it,  no  matter  at  what  speed,  without  cross- 
ing himself  with  three  fingers  and  taking  off  his  hat.  The 
same  forms  were  practised  by  all  foot  passengers.  The 


A  PARISH   PRIEST. 


THE  RUSSIAN-GREEK  CHURCH. 


I85 


street  was  usually  crowded  during  the  business  hours  of  the 
day,  but  every  hat  came  off,  and  every  right  hand  made  the 
sign  of  the  cross  when  the  little  chapel  was  reached.  All  the 
passengers  in  the  street  cars,  and  the  conductor  and  driver 
as  well,  made  the  same  obeisance. 

The  morning  after  we  arrived  we  witnessed  from  the 
balcony  of  the  hotel  what  in  any  other  country  would  have 
seemed  a  remarkable  spectacle,  but  in  Russia  it  was  com- 
mon, as  we  afterward  discovered.  It  happened  to  be  the 
anniversary  of  the  saint  that  presides 
over  commerce, — the  saint  of  the 
little  chapel  I  have  been  speaking 
about.  There  was  a  great  stir  early 
in  the  morning,  a  commotion  such  as 
we  see  at  home  on  a  holiday;  men 
were  standing  about  in  their  best 
clothes,  women  with  little  ones  tug- 
ging at  their  skirts,  and  the  crowd 
around  the  chapel,  which  was  always 
great,  seemed  greater  than  ever. 

Soon  a  carriage  drove  up,  and  a 
priest  with  long  white  hair  and  beard 
alighted.  Then  a  band  of  music  and 
a  battalion  of  soldiers  arrived,  fol-  / 
lowed  by  a  large  company  of  priests  - 
and  monks.  About  ten  o'clock  the  A  PRIEST'S  DAUGHTER. 
crowd  had  increased  to  such  num- 
bers that  traffic  was  suspended,  and  finally  a  procession 
was  formed.  At  the  head  were  a  lot  of  white-robed  monks 
chanting,  then  a  company  of  acolytes  swinging  incense- 
urns  ;  then  the  white-haired  priest,  or  Metropolitan,  as  he 
proved  to  be,  came,  bearing  in  his  hands  the  sacred  Icon 
of  the  chapel,  being  sheltered  by  a  canopy  of  golden  cloth 
carried  by  four  other  priests.  Behind  him  came  other 
priests  and  monks,  then  the  military  band  and  the 
battalion  of  soldiers,  and  finally  a  procession  of  people 
reaching  for  several  blocks,  not  marching  in  a  column, 


i  86 


RUSSIA : 


but  huddled  together,  and  filling  the  entire  street  from 
wall  to  wall.  During  the  time  the  Icon  was  being  brought 
from  the  chapel  and  until  the  procession  began  to  move, 
everyone  but  the  priest  and  soldiers  was  on  his  knees 
in  the  street.  When  it  had  reached  its  place  in  the  proces- 
sion "all  rose  and  followed. 

The  same  ceremony  was  repeated  about  four  in  the  after- 
noon, when  the  Icon  was  brought  back  and  deposited  in  its 
usual  place.  Upon  inquiry  I  learned  that,  it  being  the  day 

of  this  saint,  the  Icon  had 
been  taken  to  the  cathe- 
dral and  several  other 
churches,  so  that  the  ser- 
vices could  be  attended 
by  more  people  than  the 
little  chapel  could  accom- 
modate. 

There  are  Icons  in  all 
the  palaces.  Some  of 
them  are  large  and  con- 
spicuous, while  others  are 
small  and  escape  notice 
unless  one  is  looking  for 
them.  You  find  them  in 
all  the  museums,  the  art 
galleries,  in  the  stables  of 
the  Czar,  and  in  the  rail- 
way stations,  and  they  usually  have  a  lamp  burning  before 
them.  Many  are  rich  and  artistic,  and  the  lamps  are  of 
beautiful  designs,  being  suspended  from  a  bracket  above 
the  Icon.  In  the  rooms  of  the  late  Czar  in  the  Winter 
Palace  is  a  beautiful  Icon  ;  and  in  a  little  boudoir  adjoining 
the  rooms  occupied  by  the  present  Czarina  before  her 
husband  ascended  the  throne  I  counted  fourteen.  The 
Czarina  was  a  Protestant  by  birth  and  education,  but 
joined  the  Greek  Church  before  her  marriage.  Her 


A   PRIKST  IN  ROBES. 


THE  RUSSIAN-GREEK  CHURCH. 


I87 


right  to  share  the  throne  would  not  have  been  recognized 
had  she  not  done  so. 

Many  of  the  Icons  in  the  palaces  are  beautifully  decorated 
with  jewels.  The  value  of  some  of  them  is  enormous,  but 
they  are  seldom  disturbed,  the  veneration  being  too  great 
among  all  classes  of  people.  It  was  from  one  of  these  that 
the  Grand  Duke  Constantine,  the  cousin  of  the  present 
Czar,  some  years  ago  stole  jewels  which  he  gave  to  an 
American  adventuress  named  Blackford.  He  also  robbed 
his  mother's  jewel-case  of  its  treasures.  The  Blackford 
woman  escaped  from 
Russia  before  the  theft 
was  discovered,  and  went 
to  Germany;  where  she 
was  arrested.  She  was 
taken  back  to  Peters- 
burg, thrown  into  prison, 
and  compelled  to  restore 
the  treasures,  when  si 
was  released  through  the 
efforts  of  Minister  Jewell. 
The  Grand  Duke,  how- 
ever, was  never  forgiven. 
He  had  not  only  dis- 
graced the  imperial  ermine  but,  by  robbing  a  Saint,  had  com- 
mitted sacrilege  that  could  not  be  pardoned.  He  was  sent 
to  Siberia,  but  has  since  been  allowed  to  take  command  of 
a  Division  in  the  southern  part  of  Russia,  having  shown 
himself  to  be  a  gallant  soldier  during  the  war  with  Turkey ; 
but  he  will  never  be  allowed  to  appear  at  Court  again. 

The  priesthood  of  the  Russian  Church  is  composed  of  two 
classes,  the  White  and  the  Black  Clergy.  The  latter  are 
monks,  belonging  to  the  several  orders  of  religious  seclusion, 
and  from  their  numbers  all  the  bishops  and  higher  ecclesi- 
astical officials  are  chosen.  They  are  teachers  in  the 
schools  also,  tutors  jn  the  families  of  the  nobles,  and  many 
of  them  have  been  celebrated  for  their  scholarship,  their 


A  RUSSIAN  MECHANIC. 


!88  XUSSfA: 

artistic  genius,  and  literary  gifts.  Asceticism  is  not  prac- 
ticed as  it  is  in  the  Roman  Church,  except  by  certain  orders 
in  monastic  life,  and  in  the  fulfilment  of  vows.  During  the 
last  century  the  Church  estates  were  secularized,  and  con- 
fiscated by  the  crown  :  then  the  emancipation  of  the  serfs 
deprived  the  religious  orders  of  a  great  part  of  their  wealth, 
some  of  the  monasteries  owning  twenty,  thirty,  and  even 
fifty  thousand  serfs.  This  was  a  severe  blow  to  them,  and 
only  a  few,  such  as  were  possessed  of  other  wealth,  sur- 
vived it.  At  present  there  are  about  five  hundred  monastic 


THE  ROAD  TO  THE  HEART. 

establishments  through  the  empire,  and  most  of  them    are 
wealthy. 

There  is  a  feeling  of  bitter  hostility  existing  between  the 
White  and  Black  clergy.  The  former  are  the  city  and  vil- 
lage priests,  or  "  popes,"  as  they  are  called.  They  accuse  the 
Black  clergy  of  laziness  and  indifference  to  their  vows  ;  of 
filling  their  bellies  with  capons  and  wines,  while  the  poor 
are  suffering  for  the  necessaries  of  life  ;  of  violating  one  of 
the  chief  ordinances  of  the  Church  by  refusing  to  marry,  and 
by  setting  the  people  the  bad  example  of  licentiousness. 
Many  of  these  charges  hold  true  in  the  cases  of  nine-tenths 


THE  RUSSIAN-GREEK  CHURCH. 


189 


of  the  monks,  but  some  of  them,  a  small  proportion,  per- 
haps, lead  lives  of  unselfishness  and  devotion,  giving  their 
time  to  study,  to  the  instruction  of  the  young,  or  to  relieving 
the  necessities  of  the  poor. 

The  White  clergy,  the  parish  priests,  or  "  batushkas " 
(padres),  as  the  people  call  them,  are  usually  men  of  some 
learning,  but  are  destined  to  lead  lives  of  wretchedness, 
being  called  upon  to  serve  the  people  in  a  most  laborious 
way  for  small  salaries.  They  are  a  class  or  caste  of  them- 
selves. Their  fathers  were  priests,  and  their  sons  must  be. 
As  soon  as  a  priest's  sons  are  old  enough  to  leave  home, 
they  are  sent  to  the  theological  schools  and  trained  for  the 
work  of  the  Church.  Very  few  of  them  escape  the  fate,  and 
they  only  do  so  by  fleeing  from  the  country  or  entering  the 
army  as  private  soldiers  and  leading  an  even  more  miserable 
existence. 

Before  they  can  take  orders  they  must  marry  the  daughter 
or  the  widow  of  some  other  priest,  who  is  selected  for  them 
by  the  bishop.  They  are  not  even  allowed  to  choose  their 
own  wives.  They  are  not  permitted  to  marry  outside 
of  the  Church.  When  a  priest  dies  his  family  is  a  burden  on 
the  diocese,  till  the  boys  can  be  sent  to  a  seminary  and 
the  girls  married  off.  The  bishop  who  has  them  in  charge 
makes  all  the  marriages,  selects  the  brides  and  the  grooms, 
and  after  they  are  wedded  sends  them  off  to  some  village 
where  they  are  to  spend  the  rest  of  their  existence,  for  they 
are  seldom  changed  from  one  parish  to  another,  except  when 
they  can  command  great  influence.  Ninety-nine  per  cent  of 
the  original  assignments  are  permanent. 

The  incomes  of  the  priests  are  also  fixed  by  the  bishop. 
All  the  money  collected  in  the  parish  is  sent  to  him,  and  he 
fixes  the  compensation  of  the  batushkas,  which  is  usually 
very  small.  The  average  salary  of  the  village  priest  is 
seventy-five  dollars  a  year,  and  he  must  eke  out  a  living  by 
cultivating  a  piece  of  ground  or  stealing  from  the  coffers  of 
the  Church. 

When  the  bishop  makes  his  annual  rounds  he  takes  down 


RUSSIA  : 


the  names  of  the  girls  in  the  priest's  families  who  are  old 
enough  to  marry,  and  from  this  list,  without  knowing  the 
characteristics  or  dispositions  of  any,  he  assigns  them  to  the 
graduates  of  the  seminaries.  Thus  a  clergyman  of  Russia 
gets  his  wife  as  the  Irishman  got  his  pig,  in  a  "  poke."  It 
is  a  lottery  of  marriage.  The  bishop  is  strictly  impartial, 
for  he  seldom  knows  the  man  or  the  woman.  He  has  the 
two  names,  and  makes  the  assignment,  being  glad  to  get 
both  off  his  hands. 

Not  only  are  the  priests  subjected  to  great  hardships  and 
privations,  but  they  are  the  butt  of 
all  the  wits  and  humorists  of  the 
empire.  Half  the  jokes  in  the 
funny  papers  are  about  them,  and 
their  lives  suggest  half  the  pro- 
verbs of  the  country.  "  As  poor 
as  a  priest,"  "  As  stupid  as  a 
priest,"  "  As  wretched  as  a  priest," 
"  As  hungry  as  a  priest,"  etc.,  etc., 
are  familiar  expressions.  Under 
the  circumstances  little  can  be 
expected  of  them.  The  average 
of  mortality  and  temperance  is 
said  to  be  higher  in  the  priesthood 
of  the  Russian  than  in  the  Roman 
Church,  which  is  due  perhaps  to  the  fact  that  the  former  are 
compelled  to  marry,  and  are  condemned  to  spend  their 
entire  lives  in  small  villages  which  they  seldom  leave. 

The  influence  of  the  priests  over  the  people  is  very  great. 
They  are  the  representatives  of  the  Church  in  which  every 
peasant  devoutly  believes.  They  baptise  his  children,  visit 
him  when  he  is  sick,  marry  him,  bury  him,  and  say  masses 
for  the  repose  of  his  soul.  He  is  with  them  always,  like  the 
poor,  and  if  he  is  a  man  of  any  conscience  or  ability  he  can- 
not but  wield  an  immense  power.  But  still  further  than  this, 
the  entire  system  of  political,  social,  and  domestic  economy 
in  Russia  is  based  upon  the  doctrine  of  autocracy.  As  the 


A  GLASS  OF  VODKA. 


THE  RUSSIAN-GREEK  CHURCH. 


Czar  is  the  autocrat  of  all  the  Russias,  as  the  bishop  is  the 
autocrat  of  his  diocese,  so  is  the  priest  the  pope  of  the  par- 
ish, the  autocrat  of  the  village  in  which  he  ministers.  This 
is  about  all  the  satisfaction  he  gets.  The  peasant  relies 
upon  the  Church,  and  therefore  on  the  priest,  for  salvation. 
He  would  rather  die  than  be  cut  off  from  the  privileges  of 
the  Church.  It  is  his  home  as  well  as  his  heaven,  and  the 
priest  holds  the  key. 

The  mujik  is  essentially  a  religious  being.  He  believes 
in  only  two  things,  the  Church  and  the  Czar.  One  repre- 
sents the  powers  above,  and  the  others  the  powers  below ; 
but  at  the  same  time  he 
regards  religion  as  a  series 
of  ceremonies  of  a  magical 
rather  than  a  spiritual 
significance.  He  is  dull, 
stupid,  submissive,  has  nev- 
er had  a  thought  that  was 
not  associated  in  some  way 
with  the  Church,  does  noth- 
ing without  saying  a  prayer 
before  the  Icon  of  his 
patron  saint,  can  neither 
read  nor  write,  is  compelled 
to  accept  as  truth  all  the 
priest  tells  him,  and  is  profoundly  ignorant  of  everything  that 
is  beyond  the  sight  of  his  own  eyes  or  the  hearing  of  his 
own  ears.  He  seldom  goes  beyond  the  confines  of  his 
native  parish  unless  he  is  conscripted  into  the  army,  and 
then  seldom  returns.  He  thinks  that  all  the  world  are  like 
himself  and  his  relatives,  and  is  satisfied  with  his  lot 
because  he  cannot  conceive  of  existence  under  any  other 
circumstances.  Of  theology  and  spiritual  life  he  has  no  con- 
ception. For  him  the  ceremonies  of  the  Church  are  suffi- 
cient. If  he  has  been  baptized  in  his  infancy,  if  he  has  par- 
taken  regularly  of  the  holy  communion  and  observed  his 
fasts,  if  he  has  confessed  his  sins  and  received  the  extreme 


A  RUSSIAN   MILKMAID. 


192 


RUSSIA  : 


unction,  he  approaches  death  with  perfect  tranquillity,  and 
lies  down  to  pleasant  dreams. 

The  Russian  religion  does  not,  however,  seem  to  have 
much  effect  upon  the  morals  of  the  people.  The  upper 
classes,  the  court  and  the  nobility,  are  notoriously  profli- 
gate, corrupt,  and  dishonest.  The  chastity  of  women  is  not 
respected,  nor  the  honor  of  men.  The  officials  of  the  Rus- 
sian empire  have  been  noted  for  taking  bribes  as  far  back 
as  tradition  runs ;  while  the  merchants,  as  I  have  said  else- 
where, have  the  reputation  of  using  sharp  practice  whenever 
they  think  it  will  succeed.  Among  the  mujiks  the  condi- 
tions are  about  the  same.  Drunkenness,  dishonesty,  and 
all  forms  of  depravity  are  the  rule,  not  the  exception.  I 
met  in  Paris  a  Russian  noble  with  an  ancient  title,  and  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  world,  who  admitted  that  the 
peasants  of  his  country  were  the  most  degraded  of  any  in 
Europe.  "  But  what  more  can  you  expect  ? "  he  asked ; 
"  they  are  only  animals." 

I  saw  more  drunken  men  in  Petersburg  on  the  day  of  my 
arrival  than  I  had  seen  in  ail  the  rest  of  Europe  during  a 
five  months'  stay.  The  peasants  of  Belgium  have  a  poor 
reputation  for  temperance,  but  I  saw  more  drunken  men  in 
Petersburg  on  my  way  from  the  station  to  the  hotel  the  day 
of  my  arrival  than  I  saw  in  all  Belgium.  Not  only  does  the 
Russian  religion  fail  to  secure  sobriety  and  chastity  among 
the  peasants,  but  it  is  openly  charged  that  the  priests 
encourage  intemperance.  They  are  not  accused  of  pouring 
liquor  down  the  mouths  of  their  parishioners,  nor  of  exhort- 
ing them  to  get  drunk  on  vodka  ;  but  the  charge  is  made 
openly  and  often,  that  the  Russian  priests  advocate  the  use 
of  intoxicating  liquors  as  necessary  because  of  the  severity 
of  the  climate,  that  they  never  reprove  drunkenness  among 
the  peasants,  that  they  discourage  the  organization  of  tem- 
perance societies,  and  that  they  multiply  church  feasts,  which 
are  little  more  than  drunken  carousals. 

The  mujik  will  get  drunk  whenever  he  can  ;  he  may  be 
depended  upon  for  that,  and  needs  no  encouragement  ;  but 


THE  RUSSIAN-GREEK  CHURCH.  Ig^ 

the  motive  of  the  priests  for  opposing  sobriety  and  resisting 
temperance  work  is  that  the  chief  men  of  each  parish  are 
generally  the  manufacturers  of  spirits,  who  in  many  districts 
allow  the  priests  a  regular  and  often  a  liberal  subsidy  for 
permitting  the  natural  appetite  of  the  peasant  for  stimulants 
to  go  unrestrained.  Then  again,  the  chief  revenue  of  the 
Government  is  from  the  sale  of  liquor,  amounting  to  over 
$200,000,000  in  old  Russia  alone  in  1887,  not  counting 
the  sum  filched  by  the  collectors,  which  is  usually  very 
large. 


GOING  TO  MARKET. 

The  head  of  the  Russian  Church  is  the  Czar.  He  is  the 
Lord's  anointed,  the  Vice-Regent  of  heaven  on  earth,  as 
well  as  the  autocrat  of  the  empire.  He  does  not,  however, 
assume  the  responsibility  of  directing  the  affairs  of  the 
Church,  but  leaves  them  to  the  Holy  Synod,  a  council  com- 
posed of  the  three  Metropolitans  (of  Petersburg,  Moscow, 
and  Kieff,  who  occupy  a  relation  similar  to  that  of  cardinal 
in  the  Roman  Church),  the  four  archbishops  subordinate  to 
them,  and  twelve  bishops  who  are  selected  for  the  duty  by 
the  Czar.  The  Holy  Synod  has  the  direction  of  ecclesiasti- 
cal affairs,  the  decision  of  theological  questions,  the  dis- 


194 


RUSSIA: 


bursements  of  the  Church  funds,  the  assignments  of  bish- 
ops, jurisdiction  over  cases  of  discipline,  etc.,  etc.  The 
Church  is  organized,  like  everything  else  in  Russia,  on  the 
bureaucratic  plan,  of  which  the  Metropolitan  of  Petersburg 
is  really  the  head.  He  occupies  a  large  and  handsome 
palace,  employs  a  vast  number  of  clerks,  and  has  a  gift  of 
$12,000,000  annually  from  the  public  treasury,  besides  the 
offerings  collected  in  the  churches.  Everything  is  done  in 
the  name  of  the  Czar,  and  his  formal  approval  is  necessary 
to  make  the  acts  of  the  Holy  Synod  legal. 


THE  ARMY  OF  RUSSIA. 


195 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE    ARMY    OF    RUSSIA. 

Comprising  nearly  Two  Millions  of  Men. — How  it  is  Organized. — The 
Military  Laws  of  the  Empire. — Grand  Reviews  of  Troops  by  the 
Emperor. — The  Cossacks  and  their  Peculiar  Customs. — The  Na- 
val Forces. 

RUSSIA  is  a  vast  military  camp,  and  has 
been  such  since  the  war  with  Turkey.  One 
million  eight  hundred  thousand  able-bodied 
men  compose  the  standing  army,  the  largest 
in  Europe,  supported  at  a  cost  of  nearly 
$300,000,000  a  year,  while  the  work  in  the 
wheat-fields  and  the  gardens  is  done  by 
women  and  girls.  I  saw  women  carrying 
hods,  digging  sewers,  ditches,  and  doing  all 
sorts  of  manual  labor,  which  in  other  coun- 
tries is  done  only  by  the  strongest  men,  and 
when  I  asked  why  it  was  so,  was  told  that  all 
the  men  were  in  the  army.  A  few  days  after 
I  took  a  trip  to  Krasnoe  Selo,  about  forty 
miles  from  Petersburg,  and  saw  90,000  idle 
men  in  camp. 

Until  the  late  war  with  Turkey,  it  was  the  custom  to  re- 
cruit the  army  in  the  agricultural  districts  and  in  the  cities, 
resorting  to  conscription  only  whenever  the  ranks  needed  to 
be  filled  ;  but  the  late  Czar  reorganized  the  military  estab- 
lishment, and  issued  a  ukase  requiring  every  male  citizen  of 
the  empire  to  serve  as  a  soldier  for  fifteen  years,  five  years 
to  be  spent  in  actual  service,  and  ten  as  a  member  of  the 
militia  or  Imperial  Reserves.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  every 
young  man,  therefore,  must  enter  the  service  or  furnish  a 


1 96  KUSSIA: 

substitute,  who  can  be  obtained  usually,  by  the  payment  of  a 
small  bounty  to  some  professional  soldier  that  has  served 
his  own  time.  But  whoever  offers  a  substitute  must  serve  in 
the  militia  reserve,  and  is  liable  to  be  called  into  the  field  at 
any  time.  The  substitute  is  merely  a  hostage,  and  does  not 
relieve  his  principal  from  service  if  the  Czar  needs  his  arms. 

After  five  years  of  active  service,  the  young  men,  well 
drilled  and  having  a  knowledge  of  military  duty,  are  sent 
home  to  serve  in  the  reserves  till  they  are  thirty-three  years 
of  age,  being  called  upon  each  year  to  spend  a  few  weeks  in 
camp  so  as  to  keep  their  hands  in. 

The  army  is  garrisoned  at  different  strategic  points  about 


MAN  OF  WAR. 

the  empire,  chiefly  upon  the  German  and  Austrian  bounda- 
ries, and  along  the  Black  Sea.  There  are  large  bodies  of 
soldiers  constantly  at  Petersburg  and  Moscow,  the  railway 
centres  of  the  empire,  ready  to  be  dispatched  to  any  point 
at  a  moment's  notice.  In  Poland  the  garrisons  are  also 
very  large,  to  keep  down  revolutionary  movements  as  well  as 
to  protect  the  frontier. 

I  went  twice  to  visit  the  Summer  Camp  at  Krasnoe  Selo, 
where  the  garrisons  of  the  capital  and  the  towns  around  it 
are  annually  taken  for  fresh  air,  exercise,  and  grand  ma- 
noeuvres. One  day  I  saw  90,000  soldiers  reviewed  by  the 
Czar,  and  again  witnessed  a  sham  battle  under  the  direction 
of  the  Grand  Duke  Vladimir,  the  brother  of  the  Emperor, 
who  is  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  land  forces  as  Alexis  is 


THE  ARMY  OF  RUSSIA. 


197 


FROM  THE 
CZAR'S  BAND. 


Commander-in-Chief  of  those  at  sea.     The  Czar  sat  upon  a 

white  charger,  dressed  in  the  uniform   of  a  Field  Marshal, 

with  the  Czarovitch,  or  Prince  Imperial,  at  his 

side,  a  boy  of  seventeen  years  or  so,  dressed 

as  a  colonel  of  cavalry.     A  brilliant  staff  was 

around    him,  the    air   was    resonant  with  the 

music    of    hundreds  of   fine    bands,    and    the 

soldiers,  uniformed  in  blue  blouses  and  white 

cotton  pants,  inarched  by  the  Emperor  for  six 

or  seven  hours,  in  corps,  divisions,  brigades, 

and  regiments.     As  each  regiment  passed  him, 

at  a  signal  from  the  colonel,  the  men  shouted 

in  unison  : 

"  Go-o-d  m-o-r-n-i-n-g,  O-u-r  F-a-t-h-e-r ! " 
"  Good   morning,    my   children,"   answered 
the  Czar. 

The  sham  battle  was   a  disappointment,  as  any  military 
man  might  have  told  me  it  would  be,  for  the  number  of 
troops    engaged,    35,000  on  a  side,   in- 
fantry,  cavalry,    and  artillery,    made    it 
impossible  to  see  anything. 

During  the  winter,  when  the  cold  is  so 
intense  as  to  make  out-door  drilling  and 
manoeuvres  impossible,  regiments  and 
brigades  of  soldiers,  both  cavalry,  infan- 
try, and  artillery,  are  exercised  in  great 
structures  known  as  riding  schools,  which 
cover  several  acres  of  ground,  are  heated 
by  steam,  and  afford  not  only  com- 
modious but  comfortable  drill-rooms  for 
1  large  bodies  of  troops.  The  riding 
school  at  Moscow  is  the  largest  apart- 
COSSACK  OFFICER.  merit  in  the  world,  the  iron  roof  being 
supported  by  trusses,  and  furnishes  plenty  of  space  for 
a  whole  brigade  of  cavalry  to  perform  its  evolutions.  The 
grand  inspection  or  rasvod  takes  place  every  Sunday  after- 
noon, and  is  attended  usually  by  the  Emperor,  his  family, 


198 


and  officers  of  high  rank,  many  thousands  of  soldiers  being 
reviewed  by  brigades,  one  entering  the  hall  as  another 
leaves  it. 

The  ordinary  garrison  of  the  capital  is  ten  regiments  of 
infantry,  five  regiments  of  cavalry,  and  several  batteries  of 
artillery,  besides  the  Emperor's  Cossack  body-guard,  and 
the  Regiment  of  the  Transfiguration,  whose  quarters  are  al- 
ways in  the  Winter  Palace.  There  are  several  large  garri- 
sons near  the  city,  and  100,000  men  could  be  assembled  in 
the  Champ  de  Mars  in  a  few  hours'  notice.  The  streets  and 


GRAND  DUKE  VLADIMIR. 

cafes  and  other  places  of  popular  resort  are  always  filled 
with  men  in  uniform.  They  are  never  out  of  sight,  wherever 
one  may  look.  The  whole  appearance  of  Petersburg  is  mili- 
tary and  bureaucratic,  spurs  and  swords  are  clanging  con- 
stantly upon  the  pavements  and  the  floors  of  the  hotels,  for 
officers  are  required  to  wear  their  uniforms  constantly,  and 
are  never  allowed  to  appear  in  citizen's  dress.  Much  of  the 
time  of  the  younger  officers  is  spent  in  saluting  their  su- 
periors, for  when  a  junior  meets  a  general  he  must  stop  and 
face  him  uncovered  till  his  salute  is  returned.  The  number 
and  brilliancy  of  the  uniforms  give  brightness  to  social 


THE  ARMY  OF  RUSSIA.  JQQ 

scenes    and  public  assemblages,  and  make  the  streets  look 

gay- 

The  two  regiments  of  the  Emperor's  body-guard  are  aris- 
tocratic institutions,  and  the  assignment  of  officers  to  them 
is  made  by  the  Czar  himself,  with  personal  knowledge  in 
each  case.  The  officers  are  all  "  Gentlemen-h>Waiting 
upon  his  Imperial  Majesty,  the  Autocrat  of  all  the  Russias," 
and  are  therefore  members  of  the  court  and  entitled  to 
attend  official  ceremonials.  A  lieutenant  in  one  of  these 
regiments  may  have  been  a  colonel  in  another,  and  willing 
to  sacrifice  rank  and  pay  for  the  privilege  of  a  place  at  court. 


A  COSSACK  SCOUT. 

All  the  officers  are  rich,  and  many  of  them  wear  high  titles. 
They  may  be  counts  or  dukes  or  even  princes.  The  Em- 
peror's brother  is  the  colonel  of  one  regiment  and  his  uncle 
of  the  other. 

The  privates  in  these  regiments  are  all  picked  men,  selected 
from  the  rest  of  the  army,  as  a  reward  of  gallantry  or  fidelity, 
and  they  are  nearly  of  the  same  stature,  over  six  feet  high. 
One  regiment  ride  large  bay  horses,  and  the  other  black. 
Their  barracks  are  near  the  Winter  Palace,  the  officers  hav- 
ing elegant  quarters,  fitted  up  at  their  own  expense,  in  which 
they  reside  with  their  families,  and  club  rooms  in  common. 

One  is  bedazzled  by  the  gorgeous  decorations  worn  by  the 
officers,  particularly  those  of  high  rank,  stars,  crosses,  and 
medals  of  various  sizes  and  fashions  being  conferred  for 


20O  RUSSIA : 

service  in  fhe  field,  or  for  the  state.  There  are  seven  orders 
of  knighthood  in  the  military  service,  besides  an  innumera- 
ble amount  of  decorations  authorized  to  commemorate  vic- 
tories of  the  Russian  army.  The  highest  order  is  that  of  St. 
George,  which  I  have  referred  to  elsewhere.  Any  Russian 
officer  will  gladly  risk  his  life  to  obtain  the  little  cross  of 
white  enamel,  and  none  ever  gets  it  unless  his  service  has 
been  of  the  highest  consequence.  The  number  is  limited, 
and  the  name  of  each  man  who  wears  the  cross  of  St.  George 
is  recorded  upon  the  walls  of  the  palace  at  Moscow.  The 
next  order  is  that  of  Si.  Vladimir, 
a  Greek  Cross  of  brown  enamel, 
with  a  ribbon  of  black  and  red, 
and  is  conferred  both  for  military, 
naval,  and  civil  service,  Then 
comes  the  order  of  St.  Andrew, 
conferred  for  civil  service  chiefly, 
whose  insignia  is  a  collar  of  Rus- 
sian eagles  of  gold.  The  next  is 
thatof  Alexander  Nevski,  indicated 
by  a  twelve-pointed  star  with  a 
diamond  in  the  centre.  There  are 
Ip1  several  others  of  lesser  import- 
ance, and  enough  special  decora- 

A  PRIVATE  COACHMAN. 

tions  to  furnish    each   officer   and 
private  of  the  army  at  least  one. 

The  Cossacks  furnish  the  cavalry,  and  the  Russians  think 
it  is  the  finest  in  the  wor^d,  although  there  is  a  decided  dif- 
ference of  opinion  on  this  subject  among  military  authorities. 
Outside  of  Russia  the  Cossack  is  regarded  as  a  good  scout 
and  an  active  guerilla,  but  worthless  for  regular  warfare. 
He  is  a  cowboy,  the  Gaucho  of  Russia,  was  born  in  a  saddle, 
has  a  contempt  for  agriculture  (all  the  food-products  among 
the  Cossacks  are  raised  by  the  women),  a  contempt  for 
schools,  would  not  learn  to  read  or  write  if  he  had  an  oppor- 
tunity, and  is  just  about  half  civilized.  But  the  Cossacks 
are  a  race  of  free  men.  They  have  never  been  serfs,  and 


THE  ARMY  OF  RUSSIA. 


201 


have  never  held  them,  nor  have  they  ever  paid  taxes  to  any 
authority.  They  own  vast  tracts  of  land  in  Eastern  Russia, 
where  they  raise  herds  of  cattle,  sheep,  and  horses.  All  their 
land  is  held  in  common,  and  the  people  live  in  Communes. 
Their  system  of  local  government  is  the  same  as  that  of  the 
Bedouins ;  similar  to  that  of  the  Children  of  Israel  in  the 
time  of  Moses  and  Abraham  and  Isaac.  Esau  was  a  Cossack, 
it  is  claimed,  and  went  to  the  banks  of  the  Don  to  avoid  his 
brother  Jacob  after  having  been  robbed  of  his  birthright. 


A  SUBSTANTIAL  CITIZEN. 

In.  lieu  of  taxes  the  Cossack  communities  furnish  so  many 
soldiers  permantly  to  the  use  of  the  government,  the  present 
strength  of  the  Cossack  contingent  in  the  Russian  army 
being  147,000  men.  Each  Cossack  soldier  is  obliged  to 
clothe,  arm,  and  equip  himself,  even  to  furnishing  his  own 
horse  and  saddle ;  and  when  in  the  field  he  must  be  his 
own  quarter-master  and  commissary.  He  lives  on  the  coun- 
try where  he  happens  to  be,  and,  strangly  enough,  has  the 
reputation  of  taking  no  more  than  he  needs.  When  he  is  in 
town-barracks,  his  supplies  are  furnished  him  by  the  Gov- 


202 


RUSSIA: 


ernment.  He  is  a  cruel,  relentless  foe,  as  fierce  as  a  savage, 
but  always  loyal.  There  is  said  to  have  never  been  a  Nihi- 
list among  the  Cossacks,  and  it  is  true  that  the  Czar's  body- 
guard is  always  selected  from  that  branch  of  the  service. 
There  is  a  good  deal  of  poetry  in  the  Cossack  nature  ;  his 
songs  are  peculiar  to  his  race,  with  a  tinge  of  oriental  senti- 
ment and  mysticism  ;  but  his  habits  are  simply  lawless. 
The  soldiers  of  the  Russian  army  are  loyal,  as  a  rule. 
Among  the  privates  there  is  seldom  any 
disaffection,  for  they  are  easily  satisfied, 
and  reconciled  to  their  fate,  as  they 
know  of  no  better.  They  come  from  the 
peasant  class,  are  taught  from  their 
youth  that  no  man  can  go  to  heaven 
unless  he  obeys  the  Czar  and  the  priest ; 
and  the  other  place  is  represented  in 
such  terms  that  he  is  glad  to  escape  it. 
Among  the  officers,  however,  there  is  a 
great  deal  of  disaffection,  and  some  are 
caught  in  almost  every  conspiracy  that 
is  unearthed.  Such  as  join  the  Revolu- 
tionary movement  are  those  wlfo  are 
disappointed  in  promotion,  have  been 
reduced  for  offenses,  punished  by  courts- 
martial,  or  ill-treated  by  their  superiors. 
There  is  always  a  certain  amount  of 
discontent  in  every  army,  and  there 
always  will  be,  no  matter  what  or  where  it  may  be  ;  and 
human  nature  is  the  same  in  Russia  as  in  other  parts  of  the 
world. 

The  Russian  navy  is  one  of  the  most  powerful  in  the 
world.  There  is  no  nation,  with  the  exception  of  England, 
perhaps,  which  has  so  large  or  so  fine  a  fleet  of  steel  and 
iron  vessels,  some  of  which  were  built  in  Petersburg,  others 
on  the  Clyde,  and  still  more  at  Philadelphia.  There  are 
thirty-nine  formidable  and  swift  cruisers  in  the  fleet,  of  from 
six  to  eleven  thousand  tons  burden,  and  eight  or  nine 


A  COSSACK   GIRL. 


THE  ARMY  OF  RUSSIA. 


203 


thousand  horse-power  engines.  There  are  also  95  torpedo 
boats,  and  many  other  vessels.  On  the  active  list,  at  sea,  are 
31  admirals,  411  captains,  and  931  lieutenants,  with  24,955 
sailors.  On  shore  duty  are  64  admirals,  170  captains,  and 
310  lieutenants. 


204 


RUSSIA  : 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE    PRIVATE    LIFE   OF    THE   CZAR. 

The  Absurd  Stories  about  his  Personal  Habits. — How  the  Slanders 
Originate. — An  Anecdote  of  the  Emperor's  Courage. — Safeguards 
thrown  about  his  Person. — His  Carriage,  Yacht,  and  Railway-Car. — 
The  Bodyguard  of  Gentlemen. — Police  Precautions. 

THE  readers  of  English  newspapers,  which  publish  the 
largest  amount  of  information  from  Russia  and  the  most 
unreliable,  have  been  told  again  and  again  that  the  Czar  is  a 
great  coward,  a  drunkard,  a  man  of  ungovernable  temper,  a 
libertine,  and  combines  all  the  faults  and  follies  of  his  pre- 
decessors on  the  throne,  many  of  whom  were  most  disreputa- 
ble persons.  Only  the  other  day  I  saw  a  statement  in  an 
English  paper  which  has  a  character  for  accuracy,  that  the 
Czar  .had  shot  an  officer  of  his  household  dead  in  his  tracks 
for  some  trivial  offence.  At  the  time  the  announcement 
was  published  the  officer  referred  to  was  in  Petersburg,  as 
well  as  ever,  and  had  not  even  seen  the  Czar  or  been  seen  by 
him  for  more  than  two  months.  There  was  not  the  slightest 
foundation  or  excuse  for  the  slander  except  British  malice, 
or  the  desire  to  revenge  some  real  or  fancied  injury  on  the 
part  of  the  correspondent.  The  paper,  which  is  violently 
opposed  to  the  Russian  policy,  was  prepared  to  print  any- 
thing evil  about  the  Czar. 

I  have  recently  seen,  too,  an  account  of  his  beating  the 
secretary  of  the  German  Legation  over  the  head  with  a  cane. 
If  there  was  an  excuse  for  such  a  story  it  is  not  probable 
that  Prince  Bismarck  would  be  so  forbearing  as  to  permit  the 
German  empire  to  be  represented  in  Russia,  even  if  he  did 
not  consider  it  a  sufficient  cause  for  war,  The  secretary 


1 HE  PR2VA  TE   LIFE  OF  THE  CZAR. 


205 


referred  to  is  still  in  Petersburg,  and  was  never  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Czar  except  upon  occasions  of  ceremony.  He 
was  more  surprised  than  the  Czar  himself  could  have  been 
at  the  publication. 

I  have  clippings  from  American  newspapers,  extracts  from 
the  English  press  and  Continental  publications,  all  of  which 
are  devoted  to  his  personal  habits,  and  represent  him  as 
bad  as  can  be,  asserting  that  he  spends  weeks  together  in 


THE  CZAR  AND  FAMILY. 

debauches  with  lewd  women,  thus  attempting  to  drive  out  of 
his  troubled  and  restless  mind  the  horrors  of  his  continual 
dangers  ;  that  he  does  not  see  the  Empress  or  his  children 
for  weeks  at  a  time  ;  that  he  is  insanely  jealous  ;  shudders 
at  every  leaf  that  turns,  and  at  every  window  that  rattles  ; 
that  he  will  not  taste  food  until  it  has  been  eaten  from  by 
his  attendants;  when,  if  they  do  not  die,  he  will  cautiously 


206 


RUSSIA  : 


feed  himself  with  great  misgivings ;  and  finally,  that  his  hor- 
ror of  the  dangers  he  is  surrounded  by  is  so  great,  that  he  is 
liable  at  any  time  to  put  an  end  to  his  own  life. 

Here  is  a  sample  of  these  paragraphs,  originally  published 
in  London  Life,  and  copied  into  many  papers  in  the  United 
States,  from  one  of  which  I  clip  it : 

"  Despite  the  unceasing  vigilance  of  the  police,  to  which 
the  Czar  certainly  owes  his  life,  no  such  thing  as  ordinary 
tranquillity  or  comfort  is  known  in  the  Imperial  household. 
No  one  is  trusted,  for  the  Nihilists  have  their  adherents 

everywhere,  even  in 
the  royal  kitchen.  No 
food  can  be  eaten  that 
is  not  previously  tested  ; 
no  room  can  be  oc- 
cupied, even  for  an 
hour  at  a  time,  without 
special  precautions  be- 
ing taken  against  at- 
tack by  explosives  or 
otherwise. 

"  It  is  never  known 
in  what  bedroom  the 
Czar  will  sleep.  Fre- 
quently, after  being  an 
hour  in  one  bedroom, 
he  changes  to  another, 
and  he  generally  sleeps 
in  a  part  of  the  palace, 
an  attic,  or  even  a  cellar,  where  he  is  least  likely  to  be  looked 
for.  It  might  be  thought  that  the  Emperor's  driving  in  the 
open  street  was  a  proof  of  his  courage,  but  this  is  not  so. 
The  danger  there  is  no  greater  than  it  is  in  his  study,  guarded 
though  he  be  indoors  as  well  as  out  of  doors  by  triple  rows  of 
bayonets." 

All  this  is  the  most  absurd  nonsense.  I  visited  all  the 
royal  residences  except  the  AnnitshkofI  Palace,  the  one  in 


STATUE  TO  PETER  THE  GREAT. 


THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  OF  THE  CZAR. 


207 


which  the  Czar  lived  when  he  was  Crown  Prince,  and  in 
which  he  still  resides  when  he  is  in  Petersburg.  It  is  situ- 
ated on  the  Nevski  Prospect,  in  the  most  fashionable  part  of 
the  city,  and  was  built  by  the  Empress  Elizabeth  for  one  of 
n  her  lovers.  At  the 

marriage  of  the  pres- 
ent Czar  to  the  Princess 
Dagmar  of  Denmark  it 
was  fitted  up  for  their 
occupancy,  and  they 
both  prefer  it  to  the 
Winter  Palace  or  any 
of  the  grander  resi- 
dences at  the  capital. 
It  is  more  like  home  to 
them,  and  no  one  is 
permitted  to  intrude  up- 
on their  privacy  with- 
out an  invitation. 

There  has  recently 
been  built  a  structure 
adjoining  the  palace 
for  the  accommodation 
of  the  Czar's  clerks  and 
attendants,  and  in  that 
building  he  spends  sev- 
eral hours  a  day  while 
he  is  in  town,  which  is 
usually  from  November 
to  June.  When  he 
comes  to  Petersburg 
from  his  palace  in  the 
country  on  business, 
he  always  drives  there  from  the  station,  attends  to  whatever 
is  necessary  to  be  done,  lunches  or  dines,  and  then  takes 
the  train  back  to  Gatschina,  PeterofT,  or  Tsarskoe-Selo,  the 
three  places  at  which  he  usually  divides  the  summer. 


208 


RUSSIA  : 


When  he  travels,  the  utmost  precautions  are  taken ;  but 
no  greater  than  those  adopted  by  the  English  police  to  pro- 
tect the  life  of  Queen  Victoria,  except  that  the  government 
railway  over  which  he  passes  when  he  comes  to  the  city  is 
constantly  patrolled  by  soldiers  to  prevent  obstructions  being 
placed  upon  the  track  and  tunnels  being  dug  for  dynamite, 
as  was  the  case  on  the  Moscow  road  not  long  ago.  This 
precaution  is  to  protect  ordinary  travel  as  well,  and  the  acci- 
dents it  has  prevented  justifies  its  maintenance. 

Instead  of  a  coward,  the  leading  men  in  Petersburg  think 
that  the  Czar  is  a  very  rash  man,  considering  the  fact  that 
so  many  of  his  predecessors  have  died  by  the  hands  of  assas- 
sins, and  that  an  extensive  organization  exists  for  the  sole 

purpose  of  taking  his  life. 
This  organization  is  com- 
posed of  fanatics  who  not 
only  do  not  value  their 
own  lives,  but  consider 
themselves  as  seeking 
martyrdom  in  behalf  of 
an  oppressed  people. 

There  are  hundreds  of 
^  Nihilists  who  would 
gladly  die  on  the  scaf- 
fold or  be  shot  by  the 
police  if  they  could  fire 
but  one  bullet  at  the 
Emperor.  At  the  trial 
of  the  last  band  of  con- 
spirators, every  man  and  woman  engaged  confessed  that 
they  had  sworn  to  take  the  Czar's  life,  and  lived  for  that 
purpose,  glorying  in  it.  Surrounded  by  such  people  it  is  not 
strange  that  every  possible  safeguard  is  thrown  around  the 
sovereign,  but  instead  of  being  condemned  as  a  coward,  the 
Czar  is  rebuked  for  his  rashness. 

The  yarns  that  are  told  about  him  come  usually  from  the 
headquarters  of  the  Nihilists,  which  are  in  Zurich  and 


A  RUSSIAN  FELDSHAR. 


THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  OF  THE  CZAR. 


2O9 


Geneva,  Switzerland,  and  in  London.  In  their  exile  they 
are  comforted  and  entertained  by  letters  from  sympathizers 
at  home,  who  send  them  such  information,  and  they  give  it  to 
the  press.  Nearly  every  slander  about  the  morals  of  the 
Czar  can  be  traced,  not  to  Petersburg,  but  to  one  or  the 
other  of  these  places. 

The  Director-General  of  Police,  Gresser,  who  is  the  de- 
facto  Czar  of  Russia  to-day  so  far  as  the  tyranny  exercised 
is  concerned,  is  responsible  for  the  safety  of  his  sovereign, 
and  is  allowed  to  use  such  means  as  he  chooses.  He  com- 
plains bitterly  sometimes  that  Alexander  himself  destroys  the 
barriers  he  has  erected,  and  places  himself  in  positions  of 
danger  where  even  the  omnipotent  police  are  powerless  to 
shield  his  life,  if  an  attempt 
were  made  upon  it. 

For  example,  stung  by  the 
reports  of  his  cowardice, 
when  he  made  a  visit  to 
Moscow,  the  hot-bed  of  Nihi- 
lism, the  Czar  insisted  upon 
walking  alone  through  a. 
crowd  of  twenty  or  thirty 
thousand  people,  without  the 
slightest  protection  but  his 
own  sword.  The  walls  of  the 
city  had  two  nights  before 
been  mysteriously  decorated 
with  posters  announcing  that 
the  end  of  Alexander's  reign 
had  come,  that  he  had  been  THE  STUFF  OF  WHICH  SOLDIERS 
tried  and  found  wanting,  and  ARE  MADE' 

that  the  "  Committee  "  had  decreed  his  death  for  refusing 
to  give  the  people  a  constitutional  government.  Many 
arrests  had  been  made  by  the  police  on  suspicion,  but  with 
all  their  numbers  and  acumen  they  had  not  been  able  to 
detect  the  mysterious  bill-posters,  and  there  was  great  ex- 
citement throughout  the  entire  city. 


2IO 


RUSSIA  : 


When  the  morning  of  the  day  on  which  the  Czar's  death 
was  to  occur  arrived,  he  announced  his  intention  of  attend- 
ing mass  at  the  Church  of  the  Annunciation,  within  the  walls 
of  the  Kremlin,  and  a  quarter  of  a  mile  or  so  from  the  palace. 
The  Czarina  and  the  other  members  of  his  family  implored 
him  to  take  no  such  risk;  they  begged  him  to  have  mass 
sung  in  the  chapel  of  the  palace  instead ;  but  he  was  deaf  to 
all  entreaties,  and  even  ordered  that  the  police  guard  should 
be  withdrawn.  He  said  that  if  his  time  had  come  he  was 
ready,  and  would  die  like  a  soldier,  with  his  uniform  on  and 

his  sword  in  his  hand, 
in  the  presence  of  his 
people ;  and  so  he  left 
the  palace  alone,  clad 
in  the  uniform  of  a 
\^  Field  Marshal,  resplen- 
Tdent  with  gold  lace,  and 
walked  across  the  pa- 
rade ground  to  the 
church. 

The  news  of  his  rash- 
ness spread  quickly 
among  the  people,  who 
were  naturally  on  the 
qui  vive,  owing  to  the 
mysterious  proclamation  of  the  Nihilists,  and  before  the  mass 
was  over  the  area  within  the  Kremlin  walls  was  crowded 
with  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men,  twenty  or  thirty  thousand 
in  number.  After  mass  was  sung,  and  he  had  committed  his 
soul  to  God,  the  Czar,  with  his  gloves  in  his  hand,  left  the 
church  and  entered  the  throng,  which  opened  to  make  a 
passage  for  him,  but  one  so  narrow  that  he  could  touch  the 
bodies  of  those  who  stood  on  either  hand.  No  bomb  was 
.required  on  such  an  occasion,  a  pistol  or  even  a  knife  would 
have  done  the  business ;  but  with  his  head  erect,  and  bowing 
to  those  who  saluted  him,  the  Emperor  walked  the  entire  dis- 
tance. The  crowd  was  silent  and  almost  breathless  ;  every 


CROSS  BY  THE  ROADSIDE. 


THE  PRIVA  TE  LIFE  OF  THE  CZAR.  2 1 1 

man  present  expected  something  would  occur;  but  the  only 
interruption  in  the  Czar's  walk  that  morning  was  when  he 
reached  the  steps  of  the  palace,  stopped,  turned  his  face  to  his 
people,  and  spoke  to  them. 

He  said  he  had  been  told  that  he  should  have  trouble 
if  he  came  to  Moscow,  that  since  he  had  arrived  he  had 
been  warned  by  mysterious  enemies,  whose  motive  he  could 
not  understand,  that  the  present  day  was  to  be  his  last. 
He  had  therefore  done  as  all  men  should  do  who  expect  .dan- 
ger :  had  gone  to  church  to  ask  forgiveness  for  his  sins,  and 
protection  from  on  high.  That  protection  was  not  denied 


A  TROIKA. 

him.  His  body,  like  his  soul,  was  in  the  hands  of  God,  and 
man  had  no  power  to  injure  him  without  the  Divine"  decree. 
He  therefore  feared  nothing,  and  believed  that  as  long  as  he 
governed  the  empire  with  wisdom  he  should  be  allowed  to 
live.  Then,  thanking  the  people  with  hearty  words  for  their 
loyalty,  he  bowed  and  entered  the  palace.  There  had  been 
silence  till  then,  but  as  the  Czar  disappeared  the  crowd  broke 
into  a  cheer  that  almost  reached  the  sky. 

Alexander  earned  distinction  as  a  soldier  during  the  last 
war  between  Russia  and  Turkey,  and  anyone  who  is  familiar 
with  his  military  career  need  not  be  told  that  he  has  plenty 
of  personal  courage.  I  saw  him  several  times.  Once  at  a 
station  of  the  railway  where  he  had  come  from  the  palace  to 
meet  the  Crown  Prince  of  Greece.  He  had  driven  a  pair  of 
horses  through  a  public  highway  four  miles  or  more,  sitting 


212 


KUSSIA? 


on  the  front  seat  of  a  basket  phaeton,  and  he  drives  about 
the  country  daily  in  the  same  manner.  I  saw  him  again  at 
the  fete  given  in  the  park  that  surrounds  the  palace  on  the 
birthday  of  the  Empress.  He  sat  upon  the  front  seat  of  a 
high  wagon,  in  full  uniform,  with  the  Empress  beside  him, 
and  the  remainder  of  the  imperial  family  on  the  back  seats, 
and  drove  slowly  through  the  illuminated  grounds,  which  were 
brilliant  with  flames,  and  crowded  with  almost  the  entire 
population  of  Petersburg. 


AWAITING  A  CUSTOMER. 


The  imperial  party  was  preceded  by  a  squad  of  mounted 
Cossacks  who  cleared  the  way,  and  was  followed  by  a  num- 
ber of  carriages  containing  royal  visitors  and  ladies  and 
gentlemen  of  the  court.  There  was  a  roar  of  cheers  from 
the  immense  crowds,  who  were  pushed  back  into  the  shrub- 
bery to  make  room  for  the  carriages ;  and  both  the  Czar 
and  Czarina  were  kept  busy  bowing  to  the  throng  and 
waving  their  hats  and  handkerchiefs  as  they  passed.  He 
was  a  fine  mark  for  a  Nihilist  as  he  sat  upon  the  high  perch, 
and  the  police  were  fearful  lest  a  shot  should  be  fired ;  but 
the  Czar  was  determined  to  show  himself  to  the  people,  and 
rode  through  the  park  for  two  hours.  A  few  days  later  he 


THE  PRIVA  TE  LIFE  OF  THE  CZAR. 


213 


ALEXANDER  I. 


went  to  Krasnoe  Selo  to  review  the  troops,  and  was  about 
on  horseback  for  eight  hours  in  the  throngs  of  people. 
There  was  a  report  in  the  English  papers  shortly  after,  that 
an  attack  was  made  upon  the  Czar  that  day.  Here  it  is  : 

"A    Nihilist,    disguised    as    an    officer  of  the  Guards,  ap- 
proached the  imperial  carriage   on   the 
journey  from  St.  Petersburg  to  Krasnoe 
Selo  and  fired    a   revolver  twice.     The 
first  shot  missed  the  Czar,  but  the   sec- 
ond perforated  his  coat.     The  Czarina 
has  since  been    suffering   from  nervous  | 
prostration." 

There  was  no  such  information  i 
Petersburg,  although  thousands  of  peo- ! 
pie  of  all  classes  went  out  to  see  the 
manoeuvres  and  would  have  heard  of  it  if  anything  of  the  kind 
had  happened.  An  officer  high  in  rank  in  Russia  speaking 
of  these  stories  said :  "  I  can  give  you  an  infallible  rule  by 
which  you  may  tell  whether  an  attack 
has  been  made  upon  the  life  of  the  Czar. 
It  never  fails,  and  the  reports  of  the 
police  or  the  newspapers  do  not  affect 
it  at  all.  The  Czar  is  an  intensely 
religious  man,  almost  a  fanatic,  and 
whenever  his  life  has  been  in  danger 
he  always  has  a  thanksgiving  service  in 
the  Kazan  Cathedral.  When  you  hear 
of  such  a  service  you  may  understand 
that  he  had  a  narrow  escape,  or  some 
plot  to  take  his  life  has  been  detected;  but  only  then." 

Shortly  after  reviewing  the  troops  at  Krasnoe  Selo,  the 
Czar  with  his  entire  family,  and  the  royal  family  of  Greece, 
started  for  Copenhagen  in  the  royal  yacht,  to  celebrate  the 
seventieth  birthday  of  the  Queen  of  Denmark,  the  mother  of 
the  Czarina,  the  Princess  of  Wales  and  the  King  of  Greece. 
They  spent  three  months  there  and  then  returned  to  Peters- 
burg. 


PRINCE 
GORTCHAKOFF. 


2I4 


KUSSIA: 


During  the  warm  months  the  Czar  usually  goes  to  and 
from  the  country  palace  in  a  little  steamer,  an  ordinary 
looking  side-wheeler  of  two  or  three  hundred  tons,  It  looks 
more  like  a  picnic  boat  than  an  imperial  yacht,  but  is  said 
to  be  swift  and  comfortable.  He  has  a  private  landing  at 
Peteroff,  and  another  at  Petersburg,  near  the  Winter  Palace. 
The  boat  is  not  fitted  up  with  anything  like  the  luxury  and 
elegance  that  appears  in  the  yachts  of  the  Queen  of  England 


HARBOR    FORTIFICATIONS  AT  CRONSTADT. 

and  the  Prince  of  Wales,  and  most  of  the  private  yachts 
about  New  York  are  palaces  compared  to  it.  Even  the  old 
Dispatch,  of  the  United  States  Navy,  of  which  so  much  fun 
has  been  made,  is  more  presentable  as  a  transport  for  roy- 
alty than  the  Czar's  vessel.  I  found  it  to  be  the  case  all 
over  Russia  that  the  accommodations  for  the  personal  com- 
fort and  convenience  of  the  imperial  family  were  shabby. 

The  Czar's  car  in  which  he  travels  by  railroad,  and 
which  was  originally  made  for  Louis  Napoleon,  is  comfort- 
able and  elegant,  as  much  so  as  need  be,  but  does  not 
approach  many  of  the  private  cars  I  have  seen  in  the  United 


THE  PRIVA  TE  LIFE  OF  THE  CZAR. 


215 


States.  It  is  no  handsomer  nor  convenient  than  the  ordi- 
nary Mann  boudoir-cars  that  run  between  New  York  and 
Boston,  and  is  of  a  similar  design.  The  car  that  was  con- 
structed for  Langtry's  use  is  much  superior  to  the  imperial 
railway  carriage  of  Russia,  and  the  vestibule  cars  in  the 
United  States  surpass  it  in  every  respect. 

The  carriage  in  which  His  Imperial  Majesty  rides  about  in 
Petersburg  is  an  ordinary  coupe',  painted  a  dark  indigo  blue, 
with  the  coat-of-arms  of  Russia  on  the  panel.  It  is  driven 


A  ZNAKHARKA. 


by  a  coachman  in  a  livery  of  white,  or  ecru  and  silver,  who 
wears  a  cocked  hat  trimmed  with  a  good  deal  of  silver  braid. 
On  the  box  beside  the  coachman,  in  the  footman's  place,  is 
a  Cossack  in  full  uniform,  and  armed  with*  rifle,  sabre,  and 
pistols.  Two  mounted  Cossacks  usually  ride  in  front  of  the 
Czar's  carriage  and  two  behind  him,  and  in  the  city  he  goes 
like  a  tornado,  the  large,  splendid  black  stallions  that  draw 
the  carriage  looking  and  acting  as  if  they  fully  realized  their 
honor  and  responsibility. 

In  the  winter,  the  Czar  drives  in  a  sledge,  which  has  a 
cover  that  may  be  lifted  in  a  storm  or  when  the  weather  is 
cold,  as  all  Russian  sledges  have,  Great  precautions  are 


216 


RUSSIA: 


A  RUSSIAN  POLICEMAN. 


taken  when  His  Majesty  goes  out.  Before  he  leaves  the 
palace  the  police  have  had  their  notice  and  instructions  by 
telephone,  and  are  informed  of  the  route  he  intends  to  take. 

The  ordinary  force  of  patrol- 
men is  doubled  along  the  way, 
and  those  on  duty  are  informed 
of  their  increased  responsi- 
bility. Beside  the  regular  pa- 
trolmen, a  battalion  of  detect- 
ives is  turned  into  the  streets, 
who  carefully  scrutinize  every 
passer-by,  and  watch  their 
movements.  They  are  in  citi- 
zen's dress,  but  wear  a  badge 
which  admits  them  everywhere, 
and  is  equivalent,  when  shown 
to  an  ordinary  patrolman,  to  orders  from  headquarters  to 
do  what  the  wearer  asks.  If  one  of  these  detectives  should 
see  a  suspicious-looking 
person  on  the  street  he 
would  show  his  badge  to 
the  nearest  patrolman 
and  ask  him  to  arrest  the 
suspect  at  once. 

An  additional  protec- 
tion is  a  special  guard 
of  the  Czar's  person, 
composed  of  retired  of- 
ficers and  soldiers  of  the 
army,  who  wear  civilian's 
dress  and  follow  His 
Majesty  like  his  own 
shadow.  They  are  at- 
tached to  the  household  of  the  palace,  and  live  under  the 
same  roof  with  the  Czar,  constantly  going  when  and  wherever 
he  goes,  being  dressed  like  gentlemen,  but  fully  armed  for 
any  emergency.  They  are  all  personally  known  to  him,  and 


THE  ISHVOSHNIK  AT  HOME. 


THE  PRIVA  TE  LIFE  OF  THE  CZAR. 


21  7 


are  devoted  to  his  service.  They  were  with  him  in  the 
army,  some  of  them  attached  to  his  headquarters,  and 
several  wear  distinguished  decorations.  They  receive  high 
salaries,  are  quartered  in  the  palace,  are  frequently  pre- 


THE  ISHVOSHNIK. 

sented  with  handsome  gifts,  and  if   they  are  ill  or  injured 
receive  large  pensions. 

This  is  the  Czar's  body-guard  of  gentlemen  that  the  reader 
has  doubtlessly  heard  about,  and  they  are  not  only  much 
more  efficient  than  ordinary  detectives,  but  immensely  more 
agreeable,  for  many  of  them  are  highly  educated  and  accom- 


2i8  RUSSIA: 

plished,  and  adorn  the  imperial  parlors  as  well  as  protect  the 
imperial  life.  They  have  access  to  every  closet  and  cranny 
of  the  palace,  are  even  permitted  to  enter  the  chamber  of  the 
Empress,  or  the  nursery,  whenever  they  think  proper,  and 
appear  and  disappear  in  the  imperial  presence  like  members 
of  the  family. 

In  addition  to  these  there  are  the  regular  detectives  of 
which  I  have  spoken,  under  the  direction  of  Lieutenant-Gen- 
eral  Gresser,  with  whom  the  Czar  has  nothing  to  do.  He 
communicates  with  them  only  through  an  aide-de-camp,  and 
is  much  annoyed  at  their  constant  surveillance. 


THE  CZAR  AND  CZARINA  AT  HOME. 


219 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE   CZAR   AND   CZARINA   AT    HOME. 

A  Glimpse  of  their  Domestic  Life. — The  Little  Palace  in  which  they 
spent  the  Happy  Days  of  their  Lives. — The  Personality  of  the  Czar. 
— His  Fondness  for  his  Wife  and  Children. — Peculiarities  of  his 
Character. 

I  WAS  enabled  in  Petersburg  to  obtain  two  very  charming 
glimpses  of  the  domestic  life  of  the  imperial  family.  One 
through  the  spectacles  of  a  gentleman  who  had  long  been 
attached  to  the  household,  and  was  not  only  a  trusted  officer, 
but  a  personal  friend  and  frequent  companion  of  the  Czar, 
who  walked  and  rode  with  him,  played  billiards  with  him, 
assisted  him  in  his  correspondence,  and  had  frequently  been 
the  escort  of  the  Empress  as  well  as  her  husband  in  their  trav- 
els. *The  other  was  from  a  verbal  sketch  in  great  detail  by  a 
Danish  lady  who  was  brought  from  her  old  home  in  Den- 
mark by  the  Czarina  soon  after  her  marriage  with  the  Czar, 
and  has  also  been  attached  to  the  household  for  several  years. 
What  they  told  me  was  endorsed  by  Minister  Lothrop  in  a 
great  part,  both  from  his  personal  knowledge  and  the  infor 
mation  he  had  acquired. 

Instead  of  being  a  brutal  libertine,  cruel  to  his  attendants, 
and  neglectful  of  his  wife  and  children,  as  he  is  represented 
by  the  English  papers  and  the  publications  of  the  Nihilists, 
the  Czar  is  the  most  domestic  and  devoted  of  husbands,  the 
most  generous  and  considerate  of  masters,  and  is  the  only 
ruler  Russia  has  ever  had  who  has  not  kept  a  mistress. 
Everyone  of  whom  I  inquired,  from  the  United  States  Minister 
to  servants  at  the  hotel,  all  agreed  that  the  personal  habits 
of  the  Czar  and  his  marital  relations  were  above  reproach. 
He  is  not  and  never  has  been  guilty  of  the  excesses  which 


22O 


KUSSIA  : 


stained  the  life  of  his  otherwise  estimable  father,  and  even 
before  his  marriage  there  was  never  a  reflection  upon  his 
conduct.  I  was  told  again  and  again  that  he  was  about  the 
only  man  in  Russia  who  had  no  record  as  a  roue'. 

Of  his  brothers,  the  Grand  Dukes  Vladimir,  Alexis,  and 
Sergius,  the  less  said  the  better.  Alexis  can  be  seen  in  the 
streets  of  Petersburg  almost  any  day  in  an  open  carriage 

with  a  woman  whose  re- 
lations to  him  are  the 
talk  of  the  drosky  drivers. 
He  has  appeared  with 
this  woman  at  balls  at  the 
palace,  and  has  danced 
with  her  in  the  same. set 
with  members  of  his  own 
family.  The  palace  in 
which  she  lives  belongs 
to  the  government,  and 
her  expenses  are  paid 
from  the  allowance  he 
receives  from  the  public 
treasury.  These  prac- 
tices, however,  are  not 
regarded  in  Russia  as 
they  are  with  us,  for  the 
morals  of  the  people  are 
more  "  Frenchy "  than 
those  of  the  populace  of 
Paris  itself. 

The  Czar  was  married  in  1867  to  the  Princess  Dagmar  of 
Denmark,  then  in  her  twentieth  year.  They  have  four 
children  living,  and  have  buried  one.  The  eldest,  the 
Crown  Prince,  is  Nicholas,  aged  eighteen  ;  the  second  is 
the  Grand  Duke  George,  aged  fifteen  ;  the  third  is  the 
Grand  Duchess  Xenia ;  and  the  youngest  the  Grand  Duke 
Michael,  aged  six.  The  Czarina  is  three  years  younger 
than  her  sister  the  Princess  of  Wales.  The  Crown  Prince, 


THE  CZARINA  IN  IMPERIAL  ROBES. 


THE  CZAR  AND  CZARINA  AT  HOME. 


221 


or  Czarevitch  Nicholas,  is  colonel  of  a  regiment  of  the 
horse-guards,  which  is  always  commanded  by  the  Crown 
Prince,  from  the  minute  he  is  born  till  the  crown  of  Russia 
is  placed  upon  his  head.  Then  he  is  supposed  to  take  com- 
mand of  the  entire  armies  and  the  navy,  becomes  the  head  of 
the  Church  as  well  as  the  State,  captain  of  a  company  of 
bombadiers,  and  colonel  of  the  Regiment  of  the  Transfigura- 
tion, whose  duty  is  to  guard  the  Winter  Palace, — the  finest 
body  of  troops  in  the  service. 

The  young  Prince  rides  at  the  head  of  his  troops  from  the 
time  that  he  can  sit  on  a  sad- 
dle, even  when  his  horse  has 
to  be  led,  has  his  aides  and 
his  staff,  and  is  supposed  to 
issue  orders  like  a  real  col- 
oriel  of  cavalry.  He  is  old 
enough  now  to  take  an  active 
part  in  the  military  ma- 
noeuvres, and  spent  a  good 
part  of  last  summer  in  camp 
with  his  troops  at  Krasnoe 
Selo.  He  has  been  educated 
.by  English  and  Russian 
tutors,  and  is  said  to  be  a 
warm  hearted,  affectionate 
boy,  a  great  favorite  with  every  one,  and  quite  democratic  in 
his  notions.  At  the  same  time  he  has  his  father's  imperious 
will,  and  does  not  like  to  have  his  plans  interfered  with. 
The  boy  and  his  father  are  very  fond  of  each  other,  but 
sometimes  their  intentions  conflict,  when  a  struggle  comes 
and  one  of  them  has  to  give  way.  It  is  said  that  the  Czar 
commonly  yields  first,  for  the  boy  always  has  an  ally  in  his 
mother.  The  Princess  Xenia  is  an  ordinary-looking  child? 
— in  fact  none  of  the  children  are  handsome, — but  she  is 
said  to  be  uncommonly  bright,  and  her  witticisms  are  quoted 
in  the  Courts  of  Russia,  Denmark  and  England.  She  has 
considerable  artistic  talent  too,  sketches  and  paints  well,  and 


THE  CZAROVITCH. 


222 

her  father's  library  is  full  of  her  work.  In  the  little  palace 
at  Tsarskoe-Selo,  I  saw  a  pen-and-ink  sketch  from  her  hand 
that  would  attract  favorable  comment  in  any  collection.  She 
is  her  father's  favorite  of  all  the  children,  it  is  said,  while 
Nicholas  is^his  mother's,  and  is  his  companion  in  his  walks 
and  drives.  He  has  often  said  that  her  bright  comments  on 
men  and  things  afford  him  more  entertainment  than  he  gets 
from  any  other  source. 

The   children   have   English,    French,    and    Russian    gov- 


ON  THE  QUAY. 

ernesses.  They  speak,  read,  and  write  all  three  languages, 
and  the  elder  ones  can  talk  Danish,  their  mother's  native 
tongue.  From  the  descriptions  I  have  had,  the  family  circle 
must  be  a  charming  one,  and  not  unlike  that  of  the  ordinary 
sort  of  people  who  are  not  hedged  round  with  dignity  like  a 
king.  Both  the  Czar  and  the  Czarina  are  fond  of  sport ; 
ride,  walk,  shoot,  play  tennis  and  billiards^  with  their  chil- 
dren, and  spend  as  much  time  with  them  as  the  ordinary 
father  and  mother,  and  under  the  circumstances  perhaps  a 
little  more,  for  the  Czarina  cannot  go  shopping  and  visiting 


THE  CZAR  AND  CZARINA  AT  HOME. 


223 


like  the  mothers  of  the  little  girls  of  the  United  States,  and 
has  no  household  cares  to  occupy  her  time.  The  Danish 
lady  of  whom  I  have  spoken  says  that  nearly  every  night  in 
winter,  when  the  Czarina  has  no  state  engagements,  she  goes 
to  the  nursery  and  reads  Danish  fairy  stories  to  her  children 
from  the  very  same  books  she  used  when  she  was  a  child. 

She  makes  much  of  their  clothing  also,  although  she  has 
a  household  full  of  seamstresses,  and  often  takes  their  new 


TRIUMPHAL  ARCH  IN  MOSCOW. 

hats  to  pieces  and  trims  them  over  according  to  her  own 
taste.  The  Empress  has  a  knack  with  the  needle,  and  makes 
beautiful  embroidery.  The  Metropolitan  of  the  Russian 
Church,  the  Great  High  Priest,  on  ceremonial  occasions  of 
great  importance,  wears,  among  his  other  vestments,  a  cape 
or  something  of  that  sort,  embroidered  by  her  hands.  There 
was  a  prejudice  against  her  when  she  was  Crown  Princess 
because  of  her  Protestantism,  to  which  she  clung.  After  her 
marriage  she  placed  herself  under  the  instruction  of  one 


224 


RUSSIA: 


of  the  priests  at  the  palace,  and  finally  decided  to  accept 
the  religion  of  Russia,  so  that  she  could  be  crowned. 

The  Empress  is  bright  -and  witty,  and  it  is  from  her, 
instead  of  her  husband,  that  little  Xenia  gets  her  keen  wit 
and  tongue  ;  but  she  has  led  a  very  sad  life,  surrounded  by 
dangers,  is  constantly  reminded  of  the  peril  in  which  she 
lives  by  the  presence  of  detectives  and  guards,  and  says  she 
is  never  perfectly  happy  except  when  she  returns  to  her  old 

home  in  Denmark,  where 
no  Nihilists  come.     The 
I  entire  family  are  in  the 
habit  of  visiting  Copen- 
N  hagen   every    year,    and 
remaining  for  six  weeks 
'  or   two   months  for  this 
reason.     It   is   a   conve- 
nient journey  by  sea,  and 
takes  only  a   couple    of 
clays.     The  Czar   is   de- 
voted   to    his    wife,    and 
•  they   are   seldom    separ- 
ated,   even    for    a    day. 
When  he  goes  to  Peters- 
burg from   the   Summer 
Palace    she     is     always 
with  him  :  when  he  goes 

THE  CZAR  S  PRIVATE   PALACE. 

out  to  review  his  troops 

she  is  ever  at  his  side ;  they  ride  together  in  the  parks 
surrounding  the  palace,  sit  together  upon  the  deck  of  the 
imperial  yacht  as  he  cruises  around  the  Gulf  of  Finland, 
and  she  seems  to  fear  to  have  him  leave  her  for  any  purpose. 

One  day  the  little  five-year-old  prince,  boasting  about  his 
own  bravery,  looked  up  to  the  Czar  and  remarked,  "  If  any 
man  should  shoot  you,  Papa,  I  would  kill  him." 

The  Czar  laughed  and  patted  the  little  boaster  upon  the 
head,  but  the  Empress,  never  willing  to  jest,  or  even  smile, 


THE  CZAR  AND  CZARINA  AT  HOME. 


22$ 


when  such  a  topic  is  alluded  to,  added,  "  And  I  should  kill 
myself." 

We  visited  the  Tsarskoe-Selo  palace  in  which  the  Czar  and 
.Czarina  spent  their  lives  until  he  was  crowned  after  the 
assassination  of  his  father.  It  is  the  smallest  but  the  most 
homelike  of  all  the  imperial  palaces,  and  the  Empress  likes 
it  better  thati  any  other.  The  family  go  there  frequently  for 
a  few  days,  but  it  is  too  small  to  accommodate  the  retinue 
that  always  attends  them,  and  they  have  to  sacrifice  their 
own  pleasure  to  the  convenience  of  others. 

It  was  a  sad  day  for  the  Princess  Dagmar  when  Alexander 
II.  was  assassinated.  She  not  only  had  to  give  up  her 
religion,  her  home  comforts  and 
quiet,  the  pleasure  she  took  in 
the  retired  life  she  was  living 
with  her  husband  and  children, 
but  her  peace  of  mind  as  well  ; 
for  the  life  of  the  Crown  Prince 
is  never  attacked,  and  as  long  • 
as  some  other  man  was  on  the 
throne  her  husband  was  safe. 
It  was  at  Tsarskoe-Selo  that  she 
spent  these  happy  days,  and  a 
visit  there  now  is  always  a  pleas- 
ure  to  her. 

The  palace  is  not  much  larger  than  the  White  House  at 
Washington,  is  only  one  story  in  height,  and  surrounds 
a  court  after  the  manner  of  all  continental  houses.  The 
main  hall  is  filled  with  the  trophies  of  the  Czar's  skill  as  a 
sportsman,  the  heads  of  wild  boars,  the  antlers  of  elks  and 
deer,  the  skins  of  bears  and  tigers,  and  mementos  of  many  a 
hunt.  On  the  right  are  his  office  rooms,  one  being  nearly 
filled  with  models  of  ships,  and  arms  of  various  sorts,  among 
which  are  a  number  of  American  invention.  Here  too  is  a 
curious  combination  clock,  showing  the  time  at  every  one  of 
the  principal  cities  on  the  globe  by  a  series  of  little  dials. 

In  the  library  are  a  large  collection   of  books  and  maga- 
15 


THE  CZAR'S  DAUGHTER. 


226 


RUSSIA: 


zines,  most  of  them  on  technical  subjects,  the  English, 
French,  German,  and  Russian  languages  being  represented. 
I  saw  Longfellow's  and  Whittier's  Poems,  several  of  Howells' 
novels,  which  looked  well-used,  and  the  Edinburgh  print  of 
Frank  Stockton's  "  Lady  and  the  Tiger."  This  I  was  told  ' 
was  the  favorite  story  of  the  Czar,  and  Minister  Lothrop 
afterward  informed  me  that  "  The  Casting  away  of  Mrs. 
Ayleshine  and  Mrs.  Leeks  "  had  been  read  with  absorbing 
interest  not  only  by  the  family  of  the  Czar,  but  by  all  the 
Court,  and  the  remarkable  adventures  of  those  ladies  was 

the  theme  of  much 
conversation  at  dinner- 
parties and  other 
gatherings  in  Russia. 

Adjoining  the  library 
is  the  Czar's  billiard- 
room,  in  which  is  a 
large  carved  oaken 
chest  filled  with  choice 
wines,  liquors,  and  ci- 
gars. In  another  cor- 
ner is  a  roulette  table, 
for  the  Czar  gambles, 
like  all  other  Russians. 
They  do  not  regard  the 
habit  with  any  more  aversion  than  smoking  or  whist. 
All  ladies  as  well  as  gentlemen  gamble  and  smoke.  The 
billiard-room  opens  into  a  pair  of  handsomely  furnished 
drawing-rooms  which  are  arranged  with  great  taste,  and  by 
the  Empress  herself,  who  designed  most  of  the  furniture. 
One  is  at  once  struck  by  the  absence  of  the  gold-leaf  that  is 
so  prevalent  in  other  palaces. 

Beyond  the  drawing-rooms  are  the  apartments  of  the 
Empress,  a  series  of  half-a-dozen  rooms,  furnished  in  cre- 
tonne of  different  tints  and  figures,  the  walls  being  of  the 
same.  Her  sitting-room  is  sunny  and  cosy,  and  adjoins  the 
sewing-room.  Then  come  her  boudoir  and  bedroom,  with 


THEATRE  AT  PETERSBURG. 


THE  CZAR  AND  CZARINA  AT  HOME. 


227 


a  bath  and  little  chapel  adjoining.  This  chapel,  not  larger 
than  a  "  hall  bedroom,"  contains  a  dozen  or  more  Icons  of 
the  different  saints,  several  photographs  of  the  Czar  and  the 
children,  a  water-color  of  the  Princess  of  Wales,  and  another 
of  the  Duchess  of  Edinburgh,  the  sister  of  the  Czar.  Over 
the  dressing-table  of  the  Empress  are  photographs  of  her  fa- 
ther and  mother,  the  King  and  Queen  of  Denmark,  the  Czar, 
and  her  children  ;  and  scattered  around  in  little  frames,  on 
the  tables  and  cabinets,  are  pictures  of  other  friends.  There 
are  several  pen-and-ink  sketches  by  the  Princess  Beatrice  of 
England,  and  several  by  the  daughters  of  the  Princess  of 
Wales. 

The  Czarina's  writing-portfolio  lay  on  the  desk,  tempting 
us  to  open  it,  with  a  number  of  new  books,  some  evidently 
half-readT  On  the  piano  was  a  lot  of  music,  some  with  auto- 
graphs of  the  composers,  or  the  friends  by  whom  it  was  pre- 
sented. The  bedrooms  of  the  children  are  separated  from 

those  of  their  father 
and  mother  by  a  little 
passage,  and  connect 
with  the  school-room,  a 
T  plain,  uncarpeted  apart- 

*' rhj 


^  ^  the  walls  hung  several 
sketches  made  by  the 
little  Princess  Xenia. 
This  was  altogether  the 
most  homelike  place  we 
saw  in  Russia. 

There  are  several  other  residences  in  the  neighborhood 
belonging  to  different  members  of  the  royal  family,  and 
nobles,  who  have  made  Tsarskoe-Selo  a  village  of  palaces 
and  a  favorite  resort  for  summer. 

The  Czar  is  not  approachable,  for  obvious  reasons.  He  is 
the  most  difficult  man  in  the  world  to  see  for  any  purpose, 
because  he  is  so  completely  surrounded  by  police  and 


228  RUSSIA: 

soldiers ;  but  when  access  is  once  gained  to  his  presence  he 
is  represented  as  one  of  the  most  agreeable  of  companions, 
"  not  a  good  talker,"  as  one  expressed  it,  "but  a  splendid 
listener.  He  seems  to  be  interested  in  anything  you  are  of 
a  mind  to  discuss,  and  often  suggests  topics  to  his  callers  in 
a  pleasant,  off-handed  way  to  draw  them  out.  He  says  little 
himself,  but  remembers  all  he  hears  and  from  whom  he 
heard  it.  I  would  rather  tell  a  good  story  to  the  Czar  than 
any  man  I  know,  but  I  never  heard  him  tell  one.  He  is 
particularly  interested  in  all  scientific  and  political  topics. 
He  will  listen  as  intently  to  a  discussion  of  the  political  situ- 


STATUE   OF  NICHOLAS  I. 


ation  in  America  as  that  in  Europe,  and  the  description  of 
any  new  discovery  will  delight  him.  He  will  inquire  minutely 
for  the  details,  and  will  then  ask  where  he  can  find  further 
information.  Small-talk  and  gossip  never  interest  him. 
He  will  change  the  subject  at  once  and  abruptly  as  soon  as 
it  is  begun.  He  cares  nothing  for  newspapers,  and  seldom 
reads  them,  but  has  a  secretary  who  reads  every  journal  in 
Europe  of  any  importance,  and  is  able  to  tell  the  Czar  daily 
what  he  wants  to  know  of  current  events." 

Looking  at  his  photograph  does  not  give  one  more  than  a 
suggestion  of  the  amount  of  character  in  the  Czar's  face. 
He  is  a  large,  splendidly-built  man,  and  moves  like  an  ath- 
lete. There  is  strength  in  every  motion  of  his  hand,  and 


THE  CZAR  AND  CZARINA  AT  HOME. 


229 


every  glance  of  his  eye.  There  is  no  face  among  all  the 
great  men  of  Europe  with  more  character  in  its  lines  than 
his,  and  the  chief  characteristic  is  determination.  He  is  a 
man  of  the  most  intense  convictions.  He  hates  and  he  loves 
very  strongly,  never  forgets  an  injury  or  a  kindness,  but  has 
a  sympathetic  disposition,  and  is  inclined  to  look,  upon  crime 
as  a  disease. 

This  point  was  alluded  to  recently  in  conversation  with 
an  official  of  the  government  who  has  to  do  with  philan- 
thropic institutions.  He  told  me  that  the  Czar  had  always 
shown  the  greatest  interest  in  the  humane  treatment  of  the 
insane,  and  had  several  times  expressed  an  opinion  that 
most  criminals  were  partially  or  wholly  out  of  Iheir  minds. 
He  is  much  more  lenient  toward  the  Nihilists  than  his  police, 
and  it  was  through  him  that  the  last  group  arrested  were 
sent  to  Siberia  instead  of  being  executed.  He  considers  the 
young  men,  the  students,  who  engage  in  conspiracies  against 
him,  as  fools  or  fanatics,  and  is  inclined  to  treat  them  gener- 
ously ;  but  an  officer  of  the  army  who  is  guilty  of  conspiracy 
or  treason  he  will  never  forgive. 

The  religious  element  in  the  character  of  the  Emperor  is 
exceedingly  strong.  He  always  had  a  serious  temper- 
ment,  even  when  a  boy,  and  has  taken  a  greater  interest  in 
religious  matters  than  his  father  did,  or,  in  fact,  any  of  his 
predecessors.  He  is  scrupulously  exact  in  the  performance 
of  all  his  religious  duties,  attends  mass  every  morning  of  his 
life,  and,  as  I  have  said,  always  goes  to  the  Icon  of  the  Lady 
of  Kazan  before  attempting  any  great  work  or  deciding  upon 
any  great  question. 

He  does  much  more  work  than  any  of  his  Ministers,  and 
is  at  his  desk  many  hours  each  clay.  Like  the  Emperor 
Nicholas,  he  rises  early  in  the  morning  and  has  done  a  good 
day's  work  before  the  rest  of  the  household  are  out  of  bed- 
He  takes  a  personal  interest  in  all  the  affairs  of  the  army, 
and  tests  all  new  arms  and  equipments  himself. 

Not  long  ago  Maxim,  the  gun-mataer,  went  to  Petersburg 
with  a  new  invention,  and  after  an  interview  with  the  Minis- 


230 


XUSSfA: 


ter  of  War,  obtained  an  invitation  to  visit  the  Czar.  He  did 
not  take  his  model  with  him,  as  the  War  Minister  requested 
him  not  to,  saying  that  the  Czar  was  very  much  pressed  for 
time,  had  no  end  of  important  papers  before  him,  and  that  if 
he  got  hold  of  a  new  gun  he  would  do  nothing  else  till  he 
had  satisfied  himself  of  its  merits  or  demerits.  Mr.  Maxim 
reluctantly  left  his  model  at  his  hotel,  and  took  only  photo- 
graphs with  him. 

"  Where  is  your  gun?"  asked  the  Czar,  as  soon  as  the  in- 
troductions were  over. 

Mr.  Maxim  explained  that  he  had  not  brought  it  owing  to 


A  FARMER'S  CART. 

a  hint  he  received  from  the  War  Minister  that  the  Czar 
would  not  have  time  to  examine  it.  The  Czar  expressed  his 
disappointment,  but  at  once  sat  down  with  the  books  and 
photographs  and  began  to  discuss  the  merits  of  the  invention. 
Mr.  Maxim  says  he  has  seen  all  the  great  soldiers  of  this 
generation  and  discussed  guns  with  them,  but  he  never  found 
so  attentive  or  intelligent  a  listener  as  the  Czar.  The  inter- 
view lasted  two  hours,  and  was  renewed  the  next  day  at  the 
request  of  the  Emperor,  who  made  another  appointment  with 
the  understanding  that  Mr.  Maxim  should  bring  his  gun  with 
him.  Mr.  Maxim  says  that  no  one  can  look  in  the  Czar's 
face  without  being  convinced  of  the  absurdity  of  the  stories 
that  are  printed  about  his  drunkenness  and  brutality  in  the 
English  papers. 


COUNTR  Y  PALA  CES  AROUND  PR  TERSBURG.        23  I 


CHAPTER  XX. 

THE   COUNTRY    PALACES   AROUND    PETERSBURG. 

Tsarskoe-Selo,  where  the  Great  Catherine  spent  her  Leisure  with  her 
Lovers.— Some  Reminiscences  of  the  Place. — Richly  decorated 
Rooms. — A  gorgeous  Card-table. — The  Palace  at  Peteroff,  and  the 
Birthday-Party  of  the  Czarina. — Some  wonderful  Fountains  and 
Illuminations. 

THE  most  beautiful  place  in  all  Russia  is  the  park  which 
surrounds  the  famous  palace  of  Catherine  the  Great  at 
Tsarskoe-Selo,  although  the  palace  itself,  so  far  as  its  ex- 
terior is  concerned,  is  an  architectural  nightmare,  and,  as 
one  author  remarks,  presents  almost  every  fault  that  an  arch- 
itect should  avoid.  There  is  not  much  comfort  in  any  of  the 
twenty-one  imperial  residences,  and  a  great  deal  of  bad  taste 
everywhere  ;  but  nowhere  is  there  so  little  comfort  and  so 
much  bad  taste  as  at  the  favorite  residence  of  Catherine. 
Nearly  as  much  money  was  spent  upon  it  as  upon  the  Winter 
Palace  or  the  Hermitage.  The  exterior,  which  is  covered 
with  all  sorts  of  figures  and  pillars  and  carvings,  was  once 
entirely  gilded,  and  $900,000  worth  of  bullion  was  employed 
to  do  the  work.  After  some  years  it  began  to  peel  off,  owing 
to  the  dampness  of  the  walls,  and  Catherine  ordered  that  the 
front  should  be  painted  over.  Hearing  of  her  intention,  a 
couple  of  speculators  went  to  Her  Imperial  Majesty,  and 
offered  to  pay  500,000  roubles  for  the  privilege  of  scraping 
the  rest  of  the  gilding  off  the  building. 

"  I  do  not  know  that  the  Empress  of  Russia  is  so  poor 
that  she  must  sell  her  old  clothes,"  said  Catherine,  and  send- 
ing the  speculators  to  prison  for  insulting  her,  she  had  the 
odious  yellow  paint  spread  over  the  gold. 

None  of  the  palaces,  not  even  the  Hermitage,  is  so  closely 


232 

associated  with  the  charms  and  vices  of  'Catherine  as 
Tsarskoe-Selo,  and  there  is  no  other  example  of  her  extrava- 
gance so  vivid.  The  vast  pile  is  a  monument  to  the  wicked 
wastefulness  of  a  woman  who  did  not  know  the  meaning  of 
either  morals  or  money,  but  gratified  every  whim  at  the  cost 
of  the  treasure  and  the  happiness  of  her  subjects.  It  was 
here  she  used  to  come  when  tired  of  being  Empress,  and 
play  the  part  of  a  courtesan  with  her  lovers.  It  was  here 
she  changed  one  after  another  of  those  lovers  into  adopted 
sons,  made  them  counts  and  dukes  and  princes,  bestowed 


CATHERINE  II.  IN  OLD  AGE. 

fortunes  upon  them,  and  received  their  devotion  in  turn. 
Here,  too,  was  the  scene  of  much  of  her  charity,  generosity, 
and  good  nature,  for  she  founded  at  Tsarskoe-Selo  an  insti- 
tution for  the  shelter  and  support  of  the  widows  and  orphans 
of  impoverished  nobles,  most  of  whom  had  shorn  themselves 
of  their  wealth  to  gain  her  favor,  and  died  fighting  in  her 
behalf.  She  also  founded  an  asylum  for  disabled  servants 
who  had  been  in  her  service,  and  a  refuge  for  serfs  who  had 
purchased  their  freedom  or  been  manumitted  by  their 
masters. 

Impecunious   artists,   authors,   poets,  inventors,  and  scien- 


COUNTRY  PALACES  AROUND  PETERSBURG. 


233 


\ific  men  made  the  Palace  of  Tsarskoe-Selo  their  home,  and 
lived  like  princes  there,  quarrelling  from  jealousy,  as  such  peo- 
ple always  do,  and  affording  much  amusement  to  this  curious 
queen.  She  was  at  once  the  protector  and  the  torment  of 
her  subjects  and  friends,  always  good-natured,  always  gener- 
ous, and  always  lovable,  but  at  the  same  time  as  depraved  as 
a  woman  of  education  could  be.  It  was  a  rather  odd  fact 
that  the  recipients  of  her  most  lavish  generosity  were  the 
discarded  and  broken-hearted  wives  of  her  favorites,  who 
were  given  shelter  at  this 
palace,  and  pensions  if 
they  needed  them. 

Near  the  palace  is  the 
grave  and  monument  of 
one  of  the  most  loved  of 
her  lovers,  who  died 
young,  Count  Lanskoi ; 
and  it  is  said  that  she 
never  passed  the  place 
without  shedding  tears. 
Her  biographer  says  that 
when  she  adopted  a  new 
paramour  she  created 
him  a  Duke  or  a  Prince 
or  a  Field  Marshal,  in  order  that  he  might  rank  with  his  associ- 
ates, and  gave  him  a  present  of  a  100,000  roubles  or  so  that 
his  dress  and  equipments  might  equal  those  of  the  rest  of 
the  Court.  Apartments  were  given  him  at  the  palace,  which 
communicated  with  her  own,  and  he  was  not  allowed  to 
leave  the  grounds  without  her  express  permission.  He  was 
given  to  understand  that  he  could  thenceforth  pay  attention 
to  no  other  woman,  for  Catherine  was  always  jealous,  and  if 
he  disobeyed  this  injunction  he  was  sent  into  exile  or  other- 
wise disgraced.  On  the  first  day  of  every  month  a  purse  of 
12,000  roubles  was  placed  upon  his  dressing-table  for  pocket- 
money,  and  the  Empress  never  inquired  how  it  was  spent. 
Much  of  the  money  went  back  into  her  pocket  over  the  card- 


BATHS  AT  TSARSKOE  SELO. 


234 


RUSSIA  : 


table,  for  she  was  not  only  an  inveterate,   but  an  unscrupu- 
lous gambler,  and  never  left  the  game  the  loser. 

The  palace  grounds  cover  2000  acres,  beautifully  laid  out, 
filled  with  statuary  of  marble  and  bronze,  and  even  now 
require  600  men  to  keep  them  in  order.  A  large  triumphal 
arch  was  built  in  the  park  by  Alexander  !._,  after  his  return 
from  France ;  and  there  are  other  ornaments  erected  by  all 

the  sovereigns  since  the 
time  of  Elizabeth,  who  se- 
lected the  place  for  a  royal 
residence,  and  built  a  por- 
tion of  the  present  palace. 
There  is  a  large  lake  with 
a  beautiful  bath-house,  in 
the  shape  of  a  mosque,  with 
a  golden  roof,  and  upon  its 
waters  the  Czars  have  given 
fetes  in  boats  and  barges. 
One  portion  of  the  grounds 
is  laid  out  in  the  Chinese 
fashion,  with  curious  Chi- 
nese bridges  and  an  absurd 
Chinese  village,  which  is 
occupied  by  the  families  of 
the  gardeners.  There  is  a 
museum  filled  wkh  armor 
and  other  trophies  of  war, 
mostly  captured  from  the 
THE  SAMSON  FOUNTAIN.  Mongols  and  the  Eastern 

Khans. 

There  is  a  pavilion,  too,  in  which  Catherine  used  to  give 
banquets,  a  long,  narrow  room,  enclosed  by  glass,  with  a 
wide  portico  supported  by  granite  pillars  extending  around 
it.  Here  Catherine  used  to  gather  the  poets,  painters, 
actors,  and  inventors  who  were  her  royal  guests,  and  set 
them  to  quarrelling  with  one  another,  while  she  laughed  till 
the  tears  rolled  down  her  cheeks.  Tsarskoe-Selo  was  to  her 


COUNTRY  PALACES  AROUND  PETERSBURG. 


235 


what  Sans-Souci  was  to  Frederick  the   Great  of  Prussia,  a 
hospital,  an  asylum,  a  banqueting-hall,  and  a  hermitage. 

I  saw  here  the  great  chair  in  which  she  had  herself  rolled 
around  when  she  got  so  fat  she  could  not  walk,  and  there 
is  a  little  step  upon  the  side  of  it  on  which  the  court  jester, 
a  little  dwarf,  used  to  stand  and  accompany  her  on  her  rides. 
In  one  part  of  the  pavilion  are  the  card- rooms  where  the 
company  retired  after  dinner  and  gambled  till  morning,  and 
Catherine's  splendid 
card-table  is  there  still, 
with  the  top,  at  least  four 
feet  in  diameter,  covered 
with  pearls  as  large  as 
the  end  of  your  finger. 
There  are  more  than 
2,000  of  them,  the  at- 
tendant told  me,  and  of 
course  the  table  is  al- 
most priceless. 

The  front  of  the  palace 
is  painted  green,  white, , 
and  yellow,  a  most  hide- 
ous combination,  put  on 
without    regard  to  artis- 
tic taste  or  even  mathe- 
matical   precision.     The 
domes  of  the  palace  and  the  chapel  are  gilded,  like  most 
Russian  domes,  and  the  roof  is  painted  blue. 

The  interior,  although  full  of  the  most  expensive  materials, 
is  so  utterly  absurd  in  its  arrangement  and  decoration  that 
one  feels  nothing  but  disgust  and  indignation  that  money 
should  be  wasted  in  such  a  way.  The  room  which  is  lined 
with  amber  I  have  already  described,  but  there  are  other 
rooms  that  represent  quite  as  much  money,  even  if  they  are 
not  so  unique.  There  is  the  lapis-lazuli  drawing-room,  the 
walls  of  which  are  lined  with  veneering  of  that  beautiful 
stone ;  there  is  a  room  floored,  ceiled,  and  walled  with 


CROWN  PRINCE  OK  GREECE. 


236 


RUSSIA: 


jasper;  another  of  malachite;  another  with  its  walls  and 
ceilings  covered  with  tortoise-shell ;  and  still  another  done 
in  mother-of-pearl  in  the  same  manner. 

The  bed-chamber  of  Catherine  is  walled  from  floor  to  ceil- 
ing with  painted  porcelain,  while  the  ceiling  is  heavily  carved 
and  gilded.  This  is  one  of  the  most  effective  rooms  in 
the  house.  There  are  Chinese  rooms  finished  in  teak  wood, 
Egyptian  rooms  finished  in  woods  from  the  Nile,  Japanese 
rooms  finished  in  bamboo,  and  filled  with  the  rarest  Japanese 
work  in  porcelain,  ivory,  wood,  and  bronze.  There  is  a 
similar  room  done  in  Chinese  porcelain,  with  pillars  of  pur- 
ple glass.  There  are  rooms  of 
all  sizes  and  shapes  finished  in 
glass  of  different  hues,  the  walls, 
ceiling,  and  floors  all  of  the 
same  material. 

The  number  of  apartments 
that  are  hung  with  Gobelin 
tapestry  I  cannot  enumerate, 
but  it  is  very  plenty  all  over  the 
palace.  In  every  room  there  is 
'  a  profusion  of  ornaments  and 

THE  KING  OF  GREECE.  ^^  ^  ^  ^^   ^   ^ 

a  portrait  of  Catherine  in  every  one  of  the  500  apartments. 
There  is  enough  gold  on  the  gilded  walls  and  wood-work 
to  make  thousands  of  the  Czar's  subjects  comfortable  for 
life,  and  the  precious  stones  with  which  doors,  picture- 
frames,  mantels,  cabinets,  and  other  furniture  are  orna- 
mented would  give  a  year's  schooling  to  all  the  children 
in  Russia. 

The  ball-room  is  220  feet  long  and  120  wide,  without  a 
pillar  to  destroy  the  effect  of  its  carved  and  gilded  walls 
and  ceilings  and  its  magnificent  chandeliers.  It  is  one  of 
the  finest  halls  in  the  world,  and  the  floor,  of  wood  mosaic, 
is  polished  like  glass.  There  are  acres  and  acres  of  costly 
marquetry  on  the  floors  of  the  palace ;  and  in  the  apart- 
ments occupied  by  Prince  Potemkin  in  Catherine's  time  the 


COUNTRY  PALACES  AROUND  PETERSBURG.        237 


floor  is  of  mosiac  of  the  finest  and  most  artistic  kind,  like 
that  in  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Mark's  at  Venice.  It  was  done 
by  a  Venetian  artist  at  the  orders  of  Catherine  while  the 
Prince  was  off  in  some  war,  and  cost  a  hundred  roubles  for 
every  square  inch. 

It  was  in  this  palace  that  the  Princess  Dolgorouki  lived 
in  state  during  the  reign  of  the  last  Czar,  and  here  we  were 
shown  her  apartments,  which  were  fit  for  an  empress,  and 
much  more  luxurious  and  elegant  than  those  of  the  Czar's 
legitimate  wife  at  the  Winter  Palace.  The  room  in  which 
she  was  married  to  Alexander,  three  weeks  before  his  assas- 
sination, by  her  priest, 
and  confessor,  in  the ! 
presence  of  only  three 
witnesses,  was  also  open-  • 
ed  for  us,  anci  one  of  the  < 
servants  who  saw  the ; 
ceremony  described  it 
for  our  benefit.  The 
marriage  was  kept  secret 
till  after  the  death  of  the 
Czar,  but  was  then  fully 
proven  by  the  evidence 
of  the  priest  and  the  witnesses. 

The  present  Czar  has  not  entered  the  palace  at  Tsarskoe- 
Selo  since  his  father's  death.  All  its  associations  are  repul- 
sive to  him.  He  lives  either  at  Gatschina  or  Peteroff,  the 
latter  being  second  in  extent  to  the  palace  I  have  just 
described,  and  quite  as  hideous  in  its  architecture.  It  is 
also  painted  the  same  distressing  yellow  color,  varied  by 
lines  of  dark  brown.  Within  the  palace,  however,  are  some 
beautiful  tapestries,  countless  treasures  of  art  in  oil,  bronze, 
marble,  gold,  and  silver,  and  a  number  of  battle  pictures 
which  are  notable. 

A  room  is  filled  from  ceiling  to  floor  with  the  portraits 
of  863  Russian  maidens,  each'  in  a  different  posture.  This 
was  one  of  the  freaks  of  Catherine.  Count  Rotari,  one  of 


THE  PALACE  AT  PETEROFF. 


238  RUSSIA: 

her  lovers,  was  a  fine  portrait  artist,  and  tiring  of  him,  she 
ordered  him  to  travel  through  the  empire  and  paint  the 
picture  of  every  pretty  girl  he  saw.  In  one  room  at  the 
PeterofT  Palace  are  the  results  of  his  life  work,  for  Catherine 
never  permitted  him  to  return  to  Petersburg.  Here,  also, 
are  two  portraits  of  the  Empress  Elizabeth  opposite  each 
other  in  the  apartments  she  once  occupied.  In  one  she 
appears  stark  naked ;  in  the  other,  she  stands  arrayed  in  her 
coronation  robes,  and  wearing  her  imperial  crown. 

On  the  broad  flight  of  steps  which  lead  to  the  Palace  of 


THE  IMPERIAL  YACHT. 

Peteroff,  the  Czar  Peter  III.,  the  husband  of  Catherine,  the 
man  who  brought  her  from  Germany  to  rule  over  the  Russian 
people,  was  stripped  of  all  his  clothing  but  his  shi'rt,  by  Count 
Orloff  and  others  of  his  captors,  and  taken  to  Petersburg  to 
die. 

The  grounds  about  the  palace  are  extensive  and  are  shaded 
by  some  beautiful  trees.  The  location  is  much  superior  to 
that  of  Tsarskoe-Selo,  as  it  lies  upon  the  Gulf  of  Finland, 
and  the  palace  has  a  fine  marine  prospect.  Since  the  time 
of  Catherine  it  has  been  the  habit  of  the  sovereigns  to  illumi- 
nate the  grounds  once  a  year  on  the  birthday  of  the  Empress  ; 
and  we  happened  to  be  in  Petersburg  to  assist  at  this  fete, 
which  is  always  the  grandest  of  the  summer,  and  the  grand- 
est I  ever  saw  or  ever  expect  to  see.  Nearly  two  hundred 


COUNTRY  PALACES  AROUND  PETERSBURG. 


239 


years'  experience  in  illuminating  these  grounds,  an  ambition 
on  the  part  of  the  artists  in  charge  of  the  pyrotecnics  to 
excel  each  other,  and  an  unlimited  amount  of  money — for 
the  Czars  never  ask  what  a  thing  costs — have  made  the  an- 
nual illumination  of  PeterofI  the  finest  in  the  world. 

Commencing  with  the  fountains,  which  are  possibly  sur- 
passed by  those  at  Versailles,  but  .are  more  numerous  and 
unique,  the  lights,  myriads  of  them,  were  introduced  behind 
or  under  the  water,  so  that  the  cascades  and  the  streams 
and  the  spray  seemed  to  be  reflected  upon  a  screen  of  fire. 
Mirrors  were  introduced  in  some  magical  manner  to  intensify 
the  effect  and  repeat  the  || 
illumination.  I  have  no 
words  to  describe  this 
remarkable  arrangement. 
I  never  saw  or  heard  of  it 
before,  and  do  not  know 
how  it  was  done.  The 
reader  may  imagine,  if  he 
can,  streams  of  water  as 
large  as  one's  body,  thrown 
fifty  feet  in  the  air,  and 

/in  'their  fall  breaking  into  STAIRCASE  AT  PETEROFF. 

millions  of  beads.  Then  imagine  lights  so  arranged  as 
to  send  their  rays  across  these  millions  of  beads,  with 
mirrors  to  multiply  them  indefinitely,  every  drop  of  water 
appearing  to  the  bewildered  spectator  like  a  pearl  of  fire, 
or  a  melting  star.  Then  at  intervals  lime-lights  with 
colored  glass  were  introduced,  which  made  each  drop  of 
water  a  red  star,  or  a  blue,  or  a  green,  or  a  purple  one. 
The  result  cannot  be  described  or  imagined.  It  must  be 
seen.  The  visitors  at  Saratoga  are  treated  to  an  illuminated 
fountain  at  the  Grand  Union  Hotel,  and  know  how  beautiful 
it  is.  Perhaps  they  can  imagine  something  of  the  result  if 
that  little  illumination  should  be  spread  over  acres,  and  an 
ocean  of  water  used. 

The  finest  single  fountain  in  Europe   perhaps,  and  that 


240  RUSSIA: 

means  the  entire  world,  is  upon  these  grounds.  It  is  a 
Greek  temple  of  red  and  gray  marble,  with  a  white  plinth 
and  pedestal,,  and  rises  from  a  marble  basin  in  the  midst  of 
a  dense  forest.  Tall  streams  spurt  from  the  most  unexpect- 
ed places,  from  the  roots  of  the  pillars  and  from  their  cap- 
itals, from  every  conceivable  crevice,  there  being  more  than 
a  thousand  mouths  to  this  fountain  alone,  which  keep  the 
water  in  the  marble  basin  foaming  and  splashing.  This  was 
also  illuminated  in  an  indiscribable  manner. 

The  cascades  at  St  Cloud,  the  old  palace  of  Napoleon,  are 
duplicated  at  Peteroff,  and  a  deep  sheet  of  water  falls  down 
twenty  or  twenty-five  terraces  of  marble,  so  arranged  that 
lights  maybe  introduced  behind  it  to  throw  their  rays  through 
the  foam.  This  cascade  ends  in  a  basin,  where  stands  the 
famous  Samson  fountain,  a  colossal  figure  of  a  man  break- 
ing the  jaws  of  a  lion  as  Samson  is  said  to  have  done. 
From  the  mouth  of  the  lion  issues  a  stream  of  water  two  feet 
in  diameter,  which  rises  fifty  feet  in  the  air,  and  then  falls  shiv- 
ered into  trillions  of  pearls  to  a  marble  basin  below.  From 
the  Samson  fountain  to  the  sea  leads  a  basin  or  canal,  on 
each  side  of  which  is  a  row  of  fountains  that,  when  in  opera- 
tion, look  like  tall  poplar  trees. 

In  another  basin  the  jets  are  so  arranged,  in  the  centre 
and  on  the  sides,  as  to  form  the  Russian  coat  of  arms  in 
water.  There  is  another  peculiar  effect  produced  by  arrang- 
ing little  brass  tubes  about  the  diameter  of  a  lead  pencil,  and 
of  different  lengths,  from  two  inches  to  three  feet,  over  an 
area  of  several  square  yards.  When  the  supply  is  turned  on 
there  is  a  fountain  in  the  shape  of  a  pyramid,  a  pyramid  of 
water,  the  tip  of  which  is  twelve  or  fourteen  feet  high,  and 
the  base  about  twelve  feet  square.  This,  when  illuminated 
in  the  manner  in  which  I  have  described,  with  lights  of  dif- 
ferent colors,  is  worth  seeing,  to  put  it  very  mildly.  Just  im- 
agine if  you  can  a  pyramid  of  purple  water,  or  green,  or  gold, 
or  crimson.  But  the  greatest  curiosity  of  all  in  the  way  of 
fountains  is  a  great  tree  of  bronze,  Every  limb  and  branch 


COUNTRY  PALACES  AROUND  PETERSBURG.         24! 


is  a  conduit,  every  leaf  a  jet,  and  when  the  water  is  turned 
on  the  effect  is  most  remarkable. 

The  forest  is  full  of  fairy  water  scenes,  here  and  there 
magnificent  jets  two  or  three  feet  in  diameter,  then  fountains 
that  throw  spray  over  marble  nymyhs,  and  cascades  in  the 
most  unexpected  places.  Basins  of  water  with  blooming 
flowers  and  foliage  plants  in  the  centre  like  floating  gardens, 
statuary  of  bronze  and  marble,  artistic*  arbors  and  kiosks, 
some  of  burnished  brass,  and  every  possible  variety  of  shrub- 
bery and  flowers. 

There  are  miles  and  miles  of  lattice- 
work,  so  arranged  that  it  can  be  re- 
moved and  replaced  at  pleasure,  and 
on  fete  nights,  such  as  that   I    have 
described,     the    walks    and 
roads   of   the   park   are    en- 
closed with  it.     On  this   lat- 
tice-work  are    placed 
oil  lamps,  at  intejvals 
of  six  or  eight  inches, 
to  a  height  of  ten  feet. 
These  lamps,  millions 
of  them,  were  lighted, 
so  that  all  the  walks  ltt£  CASCADE  AT  PETEROFF. 

and  roads  in  the  park,  mile  after  mile  of  them,  were  enclosed 
by  walls  of  living  fire.  Nowhere  else  but  at  Peteroff  can  this 
be  seen,  and  it  required  «i8oo  men  three  weeks  to  arrange 
for  the  illumination.  Besides  the  stationary  illumination  a 
whole  ship-load  of  fire-works  were  exploded  from  the  bay 
for  the  entertainment  of  the  people.  It  was  through  these 
walls  of  fire  that  the  Emperor  and  the  Empress  with  their 
family  rode  in  a  large  wagon,  drawn  by  twelve  white  horses, 
the  night  of  the  fete,  to  receive  the  homage  of  the  people. 

Within  the  park  at  PeterofT  is  a  memorable  place  known 

as  Montplaiser,  a  low,  Dutch-looking  cottage,  which  was  the 

summer  home  of  Peter  the   Great,  and  in   which  he  spent 

much  time  in  study,  apart  from  all  the  world  but  his  peasant 

16 


242 


RUSSIA: 


wife,  who  cooked  his  meals  for  him.  It  was  here  that  this 
imperious  spirit  rested — the  only  place  where  it  found  rest. 
Here  he  would  bury  himself  for  weeks  at  a  time,  as  much 
alone  as  if  he  were  in  the  midst  of  a  forest,  and  it  was  a  for- 
est then.  The  cottage  contains  a  fine  collection  of  paintings, 
being  examples  of  the  best  Dutch  masters,  which  Peter  col- 
lected in  his  visit  to  Holland.  One  represents  him  as  a  ship- 
wright at  Zaandam.  In  the  wainscoting  of  one  of  the  apart- 
ments near  the  chimney-piece  are  two  bullets  imbedded  in 
the  wood,  shot  by  his  daughter  while  pursuing  a  deer.  Oppo- 


MARLEY. 

site  is  Peter's  bedroom,  with  his  bed,  nightcap,  dressing- 
gown,  and  slippers  preserved  as  he  left  them. 

The  Empress  Elizabeth,  Peter's  daughter,  in  whose  reign 
the  Palace  of  PeterofT  was  built,  was  a  practical  joker,  and 
in  an  arbor  near  the  cottage  is  a  contrivance  of  her  inven- 
tion that  caused  her  much  amusement,  and  other  people 
much  distress.  The  seats  of  the  arbor  are  of  perforated  iron, 
and  are  connected  with  water  pipes,  so  that  she  could  at 
any  time  entertain  such  guests  as  seated  themselves  there 
with  a  copious  shower-bath. 

Upstairs  in  the  cottage  is  a  room  where  Peter  had  a  con- 
trivance so  that  he  could  dine  without  the  attendance  of 
servants.  The  round  table  is  arranged  so  that  it  can  be 
lowered  to,  and  lifted  from  the  lower  story  by  tackle,  and  at 
each  plate  there  is  a  similar  contrivance,  so  that  it  could  be 
lowered  and  lifted  in  the  same  way  without  disturbing  the 


COUNTRY  PALACES  AROUND  PETERSBURG.        243 

rest  of  the  table.     In  the  palace    of    Frederick  the  Great  at 
Potsdam  there  is  a  similar  arrangement  copied  from  this. 

On  the  shores  of  the  Gulf  of  Finland  is  another  of  Peter's 
country  palaces,  built  after  Montplaiser,  called  Marly,  a  plain, 
square  house,  containing  a  dozen  rooms  or  so.  The  furni- 
ture is  all  of  Peter's  time,  and  much  of  it  was  made  by  his 
own  hands.  Here  the  guide  shows  a  dressing-gown  present- 
ed to  Peter  by  the  Shah  of  Persia,  and  a  coverlid  for  his  bed 
presented  by  the  Emperor  of  China.  There  is  also  a  clock 
that  he  made,  and  a  curious  watch  which  he  once  took  to 
pieces  and  could  not  put  together  again. 

Peter  had  a  pond  dug  in  front  of  Marly,  and  stocked  with 
fish,  which  he  trained  so 
that  they  would  come  to 
the  surface  of  the  water 
at  the  ringing  of  a  bell 
and  be  fed.  Three  times  , 
each  day  for  125  years 
this  performance  has  been 
repeated,  and  visitors  to 
the  palace  usually  time 
themselves  so  as  to  be 
there  at  noon  and  see  it 
done.  The  attendant  then  GRAND  DUKE  SERGIUS  AND  W1FE- 
comes  down  with  a  big  dinner-bell  and  a  platter  full  of  food. 
When  the  bell  is  rung  the  fish  rise  to  the  top  of  the  water  by 
the  hundreds  and  catch  the  crumbs  and  worms  that  are  flung 
to  them.  The  day  I  was  there  the  Grand  Duke  Sergius  and 
his  wife  and  the  Grand  Duke  Paul  came  down  to  witness 
the  exhibition. 

It  was  at  the  palace  of  Peteroff  that  the  famous  sentinel 
used  to  walk,  and  the  path  made  by  his  feet  is  pointed  out. 
The  story  is  told  in  school  readers,  and  illustrates  the  char- 
acteristic of  the  Russian  race  to  obey  without  asking-  any 
questions.  For  more  than  a  century  a  soldier  paced  up  and 
down  before  a  rose-bush  in  the  garden,  and  no  one  knew 
why.  Finally  an  inquiry  was  instituted  by  some  officer  of 


244  RUSSIA  : 

the  court  who  had  his  curiosity  aroused,  and  it  was  discovered 
that  in  the  time  of  the  Empress  Elizabeth,  that  lady,  being 
particularly  fond  of  a  certain  rose-bush,  ordered  that  no  one 
should  pluck  flowers  from  it  but  herself.  To  enforce  her 
order  she  asked  the  commandant  of  the  guards  to  put  a  sen- 
tinel there  to  warn  people  away.  The  order  was  executed 
and  never  revoked,  so  each  morning,  summer  and  winter,  for 
more  than  125  years,  in  time  of  war  and  in  time  of  peace, 
in  storm  and  sunshine,  when  the  palace  was  empty  and  when 
it  was  full,  this  sentinel  was  sent  to  his  post.  He  died  and 
another  to^k  his  place,  and  then  another,  until  the  reason  for 
the  order  was  forgotten,  and  no  one  knew  why  the  soldier  was 
there,  until  the  investigations  of  the 
curious  officer  being  reported  to  the 
Czar,  the  order  of  Elizabeth  was  revoked. 
There  is  a  beautiful  drive  through 
what  is  called  the  English  Garden,  so 
called  from  its  having  been  laid  out  by 
an  English  architect,  to  the  palace  of 
Orianenbaum,  the  scene  of  some  of  the 
most  tragic  episodes  in  Russian  history. 
This  palace  was  originally  built  by  the 
notorious  Prince  Mentchikoff,  the  fac- 
totum of  Peter  the  Great,  called  in  his 
time  "the  little  Czar,"  because  of  his  influence  with  Peter 

and  the  manner  with  which  he  exercised  it.     It  is  said  that  his 

> 

extreme  subservience  to  Peter  was  the  cause  of  his  rapid 
advancement  and  his  influence  at  court,  for  he  used  to  let 
Peter  kick  and  beat  him  like  a  dog,  and  did  all  his  dirty  work. 
His  influence  continued  through  the  short  reign  of  Peter's 
widow,  Catherine,  who  ordered  her  son  and  successor  on  the 
throne,  Peter  II.,  to  marry  MentchikofFs  daughter;  but  he 
refused  to  do  so,  and  as  soon  as  his  mother  died  sent  the 
favorite,  with  the  daughter,  to  Siberia  and  confiscated  the 
property  his  father  had  given  the  Prince. 

Peter  III.  took  Orianenbaum  for  his  residence,  and  was 
there  when  his  wife  Catherine  the  Great  awakened  the  revo- 


COUNTRY  PALACES  AROUND  PETERSBURG. 


245 


lution  against  him.  Peter  had  rendered  himself  obnoxious 
to  the  entire  court  and  people  by  his  absurd  exactions  and 
his  cruel  behavior,  and  disgusted  his  wife  by  his  beastly  hab- 
its. At  length  Catherine  discovered  that  he  intended  to 
send  her  to  prison  and  disinherit  their  son  Paul ;  whereupon 
she  took  the  initiative,  and  accompanied  by  her  own  lover, 
afterward  famous  as  Prince  Orloff.  fled  from  the  palace  of 
Orianenbaum  at  night 
and  went  to  Peters- 
burg, where  she  called 
the  nobles  together  and 
determined  to  over- 
throw her  husband's 
power  and  take  the 
sceptre  herself.  From 
the  Winter  Palace  she 
rode  out  astride  of  a 
horse  and  addressed 
the  army,  sword  in 
hand,  calling  upon 
them  to  give  her  their 
allegiance,  and  then 
inarched  to  Orianen- 
baum at  the  head  of 
20,000  men.  Peter's 
troops  deserted  him, 
and  he  fled  in  a  boat 
to  Cronstadt,  where  shelter  was  refused  him  at  the  fort,  and 
he  was  arrested  the  next  day.  He  was  taken  to  Petersburg 
and  strangled  by  Orloff  and  another  of  Catherine's  lovers. 

"  It  was  very  sad  for  such  a  humane  man  as  I  was  to  be 
obliged  to  carry  out  what  was  required  of  my  obedience  to 
my  sovereign  in  this  case,"  said  Orloff  in  his  Memoirs,  but 
it  did  not  seem  to  worry  him  much,  as  he  was  the  prime  favorite 
of  Peter's  widow  for  twenty  years,  and  received  millions  of 
money  and  a  dozen  palaces  as  gifts  from  his  royal  mistress,  as 
well  as  political  and  military  honors,  In  the  palace  at  Qrianen- 


A  PEASANT'S  CABIN. 


246 


RUSSIA : 


baum  to-day  is  a  picture  covering  the  entire  side  of  a  room, 
representing  Catherine  astride  of  her  horse  at  the  head  of  her 
troops,  en  route  to  that  place.  Near  the  palace  is  what  is 
known  as  the  birch  cottage,  made  of  bark  and  thatched  with 
straw,  a  whim  of  Catherine's,  who  had  the  walls  of  all  the 
rooms  adorned  with  magnifying  mirrors,  which  caused  the 
tiny  place  to  have  the  appearance  of  a  grand  castle. 

Near  Peteroff  the  Czar  has  a  small  private  palace  in  which 
he  often  resides  in  summer  in  preference  to  the  larger  and 
more  showy  one.  It  was  formerly  the  residence  of  one  of  his 

uncles,  and  was  pur- 
chased by  the  present 
Czar.  While  the  im- 
perial family  is  there  the 
court  resides  at  Peteroff. 
There  is  still  another 
private  palace  called 
Gatschina,  and  the  family 
are  there  a  good  deal. 
While  I  was  in  Peters- 
burg the  Czar  was  at 
Peteroff,  and  the  King  of 
Greece  and  his  family 
were  occupying  Gats- 
china. 

All  of  these  palaces 
are  open  to  the  public 
except  when  they  are 
actually  occupied  by  the 
family.  We  visited  one 
palace  in  which  the  Czar 

ALEXANDER  COLUMN.  ^     ^.^     ha£j     ^ 

the  previous  night ;  but  everywhere  the  closest  surveillance  is 
exercised  over  all  visitors,  and  not  more  over  strangers  than 
citizens.  The  most  is  feared  from  the  Russian  malcontents 
themselves. 

Some  years  ago  there  was  an  explosion  of  dynamite  in  one 


COUNTRY  PALACES  AROUND  PETERSBURG. 


247 


of  the  dining-rooms,  which  only  by  the  intervention  of  Provi- 
dence failed  to  destroy  the  entire  imperial  family.  It  is  not 
known  how  the  infernal  machine  was  placed  under  the  stove 
where  it  afterward  exploded,  but  it  is  supposed  that  a  car- 
penter named  Batyskoff,  who  had  been  employed  to  make 
some  repairs,  was  the  guilty  man.  There  were  a  good  many 
visitors  there  that  day,  but  none  who  looked  at  all  suspicious. 
At  noon  the  palace  was  closed,  so  that  the  servants  could 
prepare  for  the  reception  of  the  imperial  family,  who  were 
expected  a  few  hours  later.  The  table  was  set  for  dinner, 
which  was  ordered  for  half-past  seven  at  night.  The  Prince 


MAN  OF  WAR. 

Lich-tenburg  and  family,  cousins  of  the  Czar,  were  coming  to 
be  guests  at  the  palace  for  a  few  days,  and  their  train  was 
due  at  six  o'clock.  That  afternoon  a  heavy  snow-storm  set  in, 
and  the  train  was  detained  so  that  it  did  not  arrive  till  nearly 
nine.  About  eight  o'clock,  while  the  imperial  family  were 
in  the  library  awaiting  the  arrival  of  their  guests,  an  explo- 
sion took  place  in  the  dining-room  that  destroyed  everything, 
and  tore  out  a  large  portion  of  the  wall,  which  is  over  three 
feet  thick.  Two  servants  and  over  forty  soldiers  in  the  room 
below  were  killed,  and  if  the  family  had  been  at  dinner  as 
they  had  intended  to  be  at  this  time,  the  slaughter  would 
have  been  fearful ;  but  the  detention  of  the  train  saved  them. 
A  register  of  the  visitors  had  been  kept  that  day  as  usual, 
and  every  person  on  the  list  was  arrested  by  the  police,  ex- 


248 


RUSSIA: 


cept  two,  who  had  given  fictitious  names  and  addresses,  and 
who  are  supposed  to  have  been  implicated  in  the  crime ;"  but 
they  were  never  detected.  The  carpenter  Batyskoff  was 
never  heard  of  afterward,  and  is  supposed  to  have  fled  from 
Russia.  There  is  a  story  that  he  was  a  notorious  nihilist 
named  Haltourin,  but  it  was  never  definitely  ascertained. 


THE  TERRIBLE  POLICE.  249 


CHAPTER   XXI. 

'  THE   TERRIBLE    POLICE. 

Lieutenant-General  Gresser,  the  Head  of  the  Police.— Examples  of 
his  Tyranny. — The  Income  of  the  Czar. — How  Political  Offenders 
are  treated. — The  three  Systems  of  Police,  and  the  Hated  "  Third 
Section." — Cruelties  of  the  Inquisition  re-enacted  in  Russia  to-day. 

THE  actual  Czar  of  Russia,  the  man  who  wields  the  des- 
potic power,  the  tyrant  whose  hand  is  on  the  throat  of  every 
citizen,  whose  voice  speaks  law, 
and  whose  orders  are  irrevocable, 
is  not  Alexander  III.  but  Lieu- 
tenant-General Gresser,  the  Direc- 
tor-General of  Police,  and  member 
of  the  Privy  Council.  He  is  a  man 
from  forty  to  forty-five  years  of  age. : 
a  soldier  by  trade,  educated  at  thi 
Imperial  Military  School  of  Peters- 
burg, and  decorated  with  crosses 
and  diamonds  for  his  gallantry  in 
the  field. 

LIEUT.-GEN.  GRESSER. 

After   the    assassination   of   the 

late  Czar,  Gresser,  who  had  won  the  confidence  and  favor  of 
the  Prince  Imperial  by  his  military  skill  and  the  discipline 
of  his  troops,  was  placed  in  command  of  the  gentlem-an's 
body-guard  of  the  Emperor,  which  I  have  elsewhere  de- 
scribed ;  and  while  serving  in  this  capacity  he  discovered  a 
plot  to*  assassinate  his  master.  He  worked  with  exceeding 
skill  and  prudence,  mastered  the  situation,  arrested  every 
man  and  woman  connected  with  the  plot,  and  either  hung 
them  or  sent  them  to  Siberia. 

It  was  the  cleanest  piece  of  detective  work  ever  done  in 


250 


RUSSIA: 


Russia ;  and  Gresser  was  rewarded.  He  was  not  only  made  a 
member  of  the  Privy  Council,  the  "  Kitchen  cabinet  "  of  the 
Czar,  but  was  promoted  from  a  colonelcy  to  be  a  Lieutenant- 
General,  the  highest  rank  but  one  in  the  Russian  armies. 
He  was  presented  with  a  purse  of  fifty  thousand  roubles,  was 
awarded  a  pension  of  three  thousand  a  year  for  life,  and  was 
given  a  handsome  residence,  the  latter  by  those  who  wished 
to  win  or  keep  the  favor  of  a  rising  man.  Finally  he  was 
made  Director-General  of  Police,  with  unlimited  power. 


READY   FOR   SIBERIA. 

Gresser  is  as  mighty  in  Russia  to-day  as  Gortschakoff  was 
under  the  late  regime.  There  was  never  a  man  endowed 
with  greater  power  over  the  lives  and  liberty  of  his  fellow 
creatures.  He  is  not  only  policeman,  but  Court,  Judge,  Jury, 
Legislature,  and  pardoning  power.  He  not  only  enforces  the 
laws,  but  can  make  them  or  suspend  them  at  will. 

In  Russia  every  conceivable  act  of  man  is  regulated  by 
law.  No  private  enterprise  can  be  established,  no  corpora- 
tion formed,  no  business  entered  into,  without  the  consent  of 


THE  TERRIBLE  POLICE. 


251 


the  State.  The  law  is  not  the  enactment  of  a  legislative 
body,  but  the  decree  of  the  Czar,  the  simple  expression  of 
his  will.  In  other  lands  what  is  not  expressly  forbidden  by 
law  is  allowed.  In  Russia  it  is  the  reverse  :  everything  is 
forbidden  that  the  law  does  not  expressly  permit  or  the  spirit 


POSSIBLY  A  SPY. 

of  the  executive  power — the  Administrative  System,  as  they 
call  it — tolerate.  The  good  of  the  people  is  not  studied, 
but  the  wish  of  the  Czar.  There  can  be  no  mistake,  for  he 
is  the  anointed  of  God,  the  Vice-Regent  on  earth,  and 
whether  acting  himself  or  through  his  agents  can  do  no  wrong. 


252 


RUSSIA: 


They  have  an  expression  in  Russia,  "  He  has  offended." 
Offended  how  ?  That  is  nobody's  business,  and  the  less  peo- 
ple inquire  the  better.  He  has  offended  the  police,  who  ac- 
cept no  apologies  and  seldom  forgive.  He  may  not  have  vio- 
lated written  law,  or  even  custom  ;  he  has  simply  offended.; 
that  is  sufficient ;  he  goes  to  prison,  or  perhaps  to  Siberia,  as 
the  tyrant  dictates,  for  no  court  interferes,  and  writs  of 
habeas  corpus  have  not  yet  entered  into  the  "Adminis- 
trative System."  There 
is  little  for  lawyers  to 
do  but  bribe  the  police. 
Gresser  himself  has  the 
reputation  of  being  a 
man  of  conscience  ;  but 
Gresser  is  not  omnisci- 
ent, and  cannot  know 
everything.  He  must 
believe  what  his  subor- 
dinates tell  him,  and  he 
seldom  listens  to  anyone 
else. 

When  Peter  the  Great 
visited  London  he  was 
shown  about  Lincoln 
Fields  Inns  of  Court, 
where  he  saw  the  big- 
wigs, and  asked  who  they 
were.  "  What !  All  these  men  lawyers?"  he  exclaimed, 
"  How  do  they  live,  and  why  are  they  tolerated  ?  T  have  only 
one  lawyer  in  all  my  empire,  and  I  shall  hang  him  as  soon 
as  I  get  home." 

There  are  courts  in  Russia  for  the  prosecution  of  civil 
and  ordinary  criminal  cases,  but  crimes  against  the  Crown 
are  tried  by  military  commissions.  At  least  they  are  sup- 
posed to  be,  but  in  almost  every  case,  except  in  those  where 
publicity  is  politic,  where  there  is  an  opportunity  to  create  a 
dramatic  sensation,  and  awaken  the  indignation  of  the  loyal 


EXAMPLES  OF  IMPERIAL  PLATE. 


THE  TERRIBLE  POLICE. 


253 


people,  the  investigations  are  as  secret  as  those  of  the  In- 
quisition, attended  by  no  reporters  and  no  lawyers,  but 
solely  by  the  police  ;  nor  is  the  accused  allowed  to  confront 
his  accuser,  or  the  witnesses  against  him.  He  is  not  even* 
allowed  to  know  who  they  are.  When  the  police  have  a 
case  of  assassination  or  conspiracy  that  is  perfectly  clear, 
where  the  offence  is  shocking  and  the  evidence  indisputable, 
the  trials  are  public,  the  forms  are  liberal  and  tolerant,  the 
prisoners  are  granted  the  fullest  freedom  of  cross-examina- 
tion, are  allowed  to  speak  in  their  own  defence  either  person- 
ally or  by  counsel,  and  the  newspapers  contain  full  reports. 
This  is  for  the  purpose 
of  awakening  public  sen- 
timent against  the  revolu- 
tionists, and  it  ordinarily 
has  a  temporary  effect. 
But  these  open  trials  are 
few.  There  have  not 
been  more  than  five  or  six 
in  twice  as  many  years, 
and  in  such  cases  the 
prisoners  have  been  guilty 
of  open  assassination. 
But  most  of  the  investi- 
gations are  in  the  prisons, 
conducted  by  the  police.  If  the  evidence  is  startling  it  is 
given  to  the  newspapers,  but  in  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  trials 
neither  the  testimony  nor  the  judgment  is  allowed  to  be 
known'. 

In  1886,  according  to  the  official  records,  there  were  703,- 
254  persons  imprisoned  in  Russia.  Of  these  about  ninety 
percent,  were  regularly  sentenced  by  the  courts.  One-tenth, 
or  seventy  thousand  persons  were  imprisoned  by  the  police 
for  causes  unknown  to  the  public.  On  the  first  of  January, 
1887,  there  were  96,272  persons  known  to  be  in  prison. 
Of  these  at  least  one-seventh  were  political  offenders,  held 
by  order  of  the  police  without  any  other  trial  than  secret,  ex- 


IVAN  CRONSTADTSKI. 


254  RUSSIA: 

parte  investigation.  It  is  estimated  that  two  per  cent,  of  the 
prisoners  die  before  their  sentences  are  executed,  owing  to 
the  unhealthy  condition  of  the  dungeons  and  the  manner  in 
which  they  are  treated ;  and  one-fifth  of  the  total  number 
arrested  in  the  empire  are  exported  to  Siberia.  The  actual 
number  cannot  be  obtained,  for  the  transactions  of  the 
police  department  are  not  fully  reported. 

The  reader  may  obtain  an  idea  of  what  Russian  justice  is 
from  the  admirable  articles  of  Mr.  George  Kennan  in  the 
Century  Magazine.  Mr.  Kennan  is  the  only  man  who  has 
investigated  the  subject  thoroughly,  and  he  writes  from  per- 
sonal knowledge  and  ob- 
servation. 

Here   is   an   example  of 
"  the    Administrative    Sys- 
tem." Professor  Ivan  Dity- 
atin  occupied  the  Ghair  of 
Jurisprudence    in    the  Uni- 
¥,  versity  of  Kharkoff,  and  was 
;  distinguished  for  his  literary 
gifts  and  his  learning.     He 

was  for  many  years  the  as- 
THE  CZAR'S  OLD  TUTOR.  ^j^  of  ^   ^    Katkoff 

in  the  management  of  the  Moscow  Gazette.  At  the  same 
time  he  contributed  to  a  monthly  review  of  liberal  tendencies 
called  Russian  Thought.  There  appeared  an  article  over 
his  signature  in  this  magazine,  pointing  out  the  necessity 
of  reform  in  the  law-courts  of  Russia.  Its  sentiments  were 
somewhat  more  advanced  than  the  publications  of  the  empire 
usually  contain,  and  attracted  considerable  attention  and 
commendation.  The  spirit  of  the  paper  was  loyal,  however, 
and  more  in  the  direction  of  advice  than  complaint. 

Shortly  afterward  the  police  visited  the  residence  of  the 
Professor  and  searched  it  from  top  to  bottom,  closely  exam- 
ining all  his  private  papers  and  correspondence.  The  Pro- 
fessor had  no  relations  with  the  Terrorists,  and  no  sympathy 
with  them,  but  both  as  a  teacher  and  a  citizen  was  loyal  to 


THE  TERRIBLE  POLICE. 


255 


the  Czar.  The  only  crime  he  had  committed  was  in  publicly 
pointing  out  what  in  his  opinion  were  errors  of  judicial 
administration.  The  search  of  his  house  was  for  the  purpose 
of  securing  evidence  to  show  that  he  was  in  communication 
with  exiles,  or  was  engaged  in  the  preparation  of  seditious 
literature.  None  could  be  found,  but  the  police  avenged 
themselves  by  denouncing  him  to  the  Minister  of  Public 
Instruction,  and  expelling  him  from  the  country,  "  for  extreme 
disaffection  against  the 
Government."  There 
was  no  trial,  no  investi- 
gation, so  far  as  is 
known,  not  even  a  pub- 
lic accusation  until  af- 
ter the  sentence  had 
been  pronounced  and 
executed,  and  then 
only  by  way  of  expla- 
nation to  quell  a  public 
remonstrance. 

Official  reports  of  the 
trials  of  accused  per- 
sons are  often  pub- 
lished in  pamphlet  form 

A  GROUP  OF  MUJIKS. 

to  allay  popular  indig- 
nation. The  latest  publication  of  this  kind  gave  the  results 
of  a  secret  inquiry  into  the  criminal  activity  of  a  political  as- 
sociation known  as  "The  Will  of  the  People,"  which  was  in 
existence  from  1883  to  1886,  and  was  considerably  extended 
and  dangerous.  There  were  fourteen  persons  sentenced  to 
be  hanged  at  the  conclusion  of  the  investigation,  all  of  them 
being  under  twenty-five  years  of  age  except  the  leader,  who 
was  a  college  professor,  aged  forty-one.  The  remainder 
were  students,  tradesmen  who  had  harbored  and  assisted 
them  in  the  carrying  out  of  their  designs,  and  four  women  of 
the  lower  class  who  had  been  the  mistresses  of  the  students. 
It  appeared  from  the  printed  evidence  that  they  had  pre- 


256 


RUSSIA  : 


pared  bombs  of  dynamite,  had  assassinated  police  officers,  had 
assisted  political  prisoners  to  escape,  had  attacked  a  post 
carnage  and  killed  one  of  the  guards  under  the  supposition 
that  they  had  a  prisoner  in  charge,  and  had  maintained  a 
secret  press  for  the  printing  of  incendiary  literature.  At 
the  conclusion  of  the  official  report  was  the  announcement 
that  the  Czar  had  commuted  the  sentences  to  imprisonment 
for  life. 

This  publication  was  for  effect.  It  was  one  of  the  many 
cases  in  which  the  generosity  of  the  Czar  was  advertised. 

He  is  ordinarily  very 
lenient  toward  political 
offenders  who  are  young 
and  have  not  been  con- 
nected with  the  army,  but 
military  traitors  he  will 
never  forgive.  But  the 
Czar  knows  little  of  what 
is  done  with  his  name. 
What  is  recognized  in 
other  countries  as  the  right 
of  petition  is  a  crime  in 
Russia.  It  is  a  crime  to 
address  the  Czar  in  the 
street,  or  to  hand  him  a 

paper  at  any  time.  A  woman  was  sent  to  prison  shortly 
before  I  arrived  at  Petersburg  for  throwing  a  letter  into  the 
railway-car  in  which  he  sat.  A  man  was  arrested  about  the 
same  time  for  sending  him  a  telegram.  The  woman  wanted 
the  Czar  to  know  of  the  injustice  with  which  her  husband 
had  been  treated  by  the  police,  and  appealed  to  his  well- 
known  generosity.  The  man  who  sent  the  telegram  was  a 
crank. 

Some  years  ago  there  was  a  popular  actor  in  Petersburg  of 
whom  the  Czar  was  a  warm  admirer.  Meeting  him  upon 
the  street  one  day,  the  Czar  addressed  him,  thanked  him 
for  the  pleasure  his  performances  had  given  him.  and  asked 


WAITING  FOR  THE  DAVAYER. 


THE  TERRIBLE  POLICE. 


257 


him  to  appear  that  evening  in  a  certain  piece,  as  he  intended 
to  be  present.  The  Czar  came  to  the  theatre,  but  another 
play  was  on  the  bills  and  the  favorite  actor  was  not  in  the 
cast.  Sending  for  the  manager,  the  Czar  learned  that  the 
actor  had  mysteriously  disappeared.  The  police  were  called 
upon  to  hunt  him  up,  and  promptly  reported  that  he  was  in 
prison. 

"  What  for  ?"  roared  his  Majesty. 

"  For  addressing  you  in  the  street  to-day,  Sire,"  was  the 
reply  of  the  chief  of  the  Third  Section. 

The  actor  was  ordered  to  be  released  at  once,  and  conduct- 
ed to  the  imperial  loge. 
When  he  came  the  Em- 
peror apologized  for 
the  action  of  the  police, 
and  asked  what  he 
could  do  to  compensate 
the  tragedian  for  tlu 
mortification  and  an- 
noyance he  had  suf- 
fered. 

"  Nothing,  your  Maj- 
esty," was  the  reply ; 
"only  please  be  care- 
ful not  to  speak  to  me 
on  the  street  again  when  any  of  your  police  are  around." 

The  common  people  entertain  a  veneration  for  the  Czar 
second  only  to  that  paid  the  Supreme  Being  whose  Vice- 
Regent  he  is  supposed  to  be.  Whatever  he  says  is  law ; 
whatever  he  touches  is  holy.  The  peasants  kneel  and  kiss 
his  footprints  as  if  he  were  a  God.  Whenever  he  is  passing 
every  head  is  bared,  even  in  the  most  intense  cold.  It  is  a 
patriarchal  relation  we  cannot  understand  or  appreciate. 
The  same  unlimited  authority  that  the  father  exercises  over 
his  minor  children  is  exercised  by  the  Czar  over  all  his  sub- 
jects. 

I  have  no  sympathy  for  the  police,  but  much  for  the  Czar. 
17 


CONVICTS'  BARRACKS  IN  SIBERIA. 


258 


RUSSIA  : 


No  man  could  suffer  a  more  terrible  temptation  than  he, 
with  absolute  power  over  the  lives,  the  property,  and  the 
consciences  of  one  hundred  and  four  millions  of  subjects. 
Everything  they  have  is  his.  He  owns,  theoretically,  every 
grain  of  wheat  or  corn,  every  acre  of  ground,  every  horse, 
every  drop  of  water,  every  ounce  of  food,  every  piece  of  gold 
and  silver,  in  the  empire.  There  is  nothing  that  is  not  his 
in  the  eyes  of  Russian  law.  What  he  wants  he  takes.  That 
is  the  doctrine  of  autocracy.  If  it  is  a  life,  very  well ;  if  the 
daughter  of  a  subject,  as  used  to  be  the  case  in  olden  times, 

she  is  his ;  her  father  or 
her  husband  were  only  her 
guardians  to  keep  her  till 
the  Czar  called  for  her 
himself ;  if  it  was  money, 
all  the  same.  The  C^ar, 
or  his  minister  of  finance 
calls  upon  the  governor  of 
a  province  for  so  many 
million  roubles.  He  gets 
the  money  by  taxation  and 
sends  it  to  Petersburg. 

The  Czar  receives  from 
the  public  treasury  each  year  nine  and  a  half  million  roubles 
for  his  household  expenses,  and  two  million  roubles  for  the 
support  of  the  imperial  stables.  A  rouble  is  worth  sixty- 
five  cents.  In  addition  to  this  the  Czarovitch,  or  Prince 
Imperial,  has  an  allowance  of  two  millions  a  year  till  he  is 
of  age,  when  the  sum  is  increased  to  four  millions.  The 
other  members  of  the  imperial  family  receive  corresponding 
allowances.  The  remainder  of  the  state  revenues,  amount- 
ing to  something  like  six  hundred  million  dollars  a  year, 
go  to  the  support  of  the  civil,  military,  naval,  and  religious 
establishments,  and  to  pay  the  interest  upon  the  imperial 
debt,  which  alone  requires  two  hundred  millions  a  year. 
The  Church  gets  ten  millions,  the  army  almost  three  hundred 
millions,  and  the  navy  fifty  millions. 


SCHUSSHBERG    CASTLE. 


THE  TERRIBLE  POLICE. 


259 


The  German  government  is  much  more  of  a  burden  upon 
the  people  than  the  Russian,  but  the  German  people  are  much 
better  able  to  sustain  it,  so  far  as  taxes  are  concerned.  The 
cost  of  maintaining  the  enormous  imperial  family  and  court 
of  Germany  is  fully  twenty  million  dollars  a  year ;  the  Sul- 
tan's establishment  costs  the  Turks  between  ^twelve  and  fif- 
teen millions ;  while  the  Czar  comes  next  on  the  list.  For 
the  population  and  wealth  of  the  empire  the  Austrian  court 
is  the  most  economical  in  Europe. 

The  Czar  is  not  a  spendthrift,  and  most  of  the  funds  he 
receives  are  spent  in 
maintaining  the  twenty- 
one  palaces  that  lie  emp- 
ty and  useless  except  as 
monuments  to  the  extra- 
vagance of  his  predeces- 
sors on  the  throne.  He 
has  an  immense  estab- 
lishment to  support,  but, 
although  there  is  no  one 
to  audit  or  criticise  his 
expenditures,  he  is  con- 
scientious and  usually 
economical  in  his  dis-  A  RUSSIAN  COUNTRY  RESIDENCE. 
bursements,  so  far  as  he  can  controlthem. 

Since  the  death  of  Katkoff,  the  man  who  is  supposed  to 
be  the  power  behind  the  throne  is  the  Czar's  former  tutor, 
with  whom  he  has  enjoyed  not  only  confidential  but  affec- 
tionate relations  all  his  life.  This  gentleman  is  Procurator 
of  the  Holy  Synod,  and  a  member  of  the  privy  council. 
There  is  no  man  who  sees  so  much  of  the  Czar,  or  who  gets 
so  close  to  him.  His  name  is  Possett,  and  he  is  a  thorough 
conservatist,  a  rock-rooted  Bourbon  in  all  his  ideas,  who 
religiously  believes  in  the  autocracy ;  and  therefore  it  looks 
gloomy  for  the  future  of  Russia.  The  Czar  himself  is  a 
conservative  man,  but  under  the  influence  of  Possett  he  is 
thrice  so. 


260  RUSSIA : 

There  is  another  man  who  is  said  to  exercise  a  profound 
influence,  which  looks  like  a  case  of  infatuation.  A  common 
monk,  a  hermit,  known  as  Ivan  Cronstadtski,  or  Ivan  of 
Cronstadt,  so  called  because  he  lives  at  the  seaport  of 
Petersburg,  performs  miracles,  and  heals  the  sick  by  the 
laying  on  of  hands ;  and  even  the  Czar  believes  that  he  is 
invested  with  supernatural  power.  This  dirty  fellow  lives 
in  a  cell  from  which  he  emerges  occasionally  to  receive  the 
worship  of  the  people,  who  bow  down  before  him,  kiss  the 
ground  upon  which  he  walks  and  the  skirts  of  his  cassock, 
and  beg  his  blessing.  The  sick  are  brought  to  him  from  all 
over  the  empire,  and  he  heals  them.  He  performs  other 

miracles,    and     utters 
prophecies     with     the 
voice     of    an     oracle. 
^The   Czar    is    said    to 
A— -"-,  visit    him    frequently, 
Agoing   across  the    bay 
of     Finland    to    Cron- 
stadt in  a  boat.     It  is 
a  curious  case,  and  al- 


The  Metropolitan  of 
the  Church  and  the  Holy  Synod  look  upon  the  monk  with 
suspicion,  and  are  very  jealous  of  his  influence  over  the 
Emperor. 

Most  of  the  stories  of  attempts  upon  the  life  of  the 
Czar  are  fictitious,  and  many  of  those  concerning  the  precau- 
tions that  are  taken  to  protect  him.  I  see  frequent  publica- 
tions about  his  finding  letters  of  warning  upon  his  dressing- 
table,  and  that  sort  of  thing.  Such  an  incident  would  cause 
the  arrest  and  punishment  of  every  guard  in  the  palace,  and 
there  is  no  one  near  the  person  of  the  Czar  who  is  not 
thoroughly  known  and  trusted.  Letters  now  and  then  are 
found  about  the  palace  where  they  have  been  dropped  by 
visitors,  but  they  are  never  seen  by  him.  Sometimes  hand- 
bills are  strewn  in  the  streets,  and  posters  pasted  upon 


THE  TERRIBLE  POLICE.  26l 

dead  walls  warning  him  of  his  approaching  end,  and  circulars 
are  issued  occasionally  from  the  revolutionary  "groups,"  but 
the  police  usually  discover  the  authors  and  printers  within  a 
few  hours  after  their  appearance,  and  exile  to  Siberia  is  the 
punishment.  The  yarns  about  attempts  upon  the  life  of  the 
Czar  usually  originate  in  the  Nihilistic  colonies  in  Geneva, 
Zurich,  or  London,  and  are  circulated  to  keep  up  the  courage 
of  the  exiles,  and  to  advertise  the  activity  of  the  Terrorists 
in  Petersburg  for  public  effect.  The  police  often  give  cur- 
rency to  such  reports  for  simi-lar  rea- 
sons, and  to  prove  the  necessity  for  their 
employment. 

There  are  three  separate  and  distinct 
systems  of  police,  each  of  which  is  in- 
dependent of  the  other  and  has  a  differ- 
ent chief,  but  all  are  directed  by  a  single 
head,  the  mighty  Gresser. 

The  first  system  is  the  ordinary  force 
of  patrolmen,  such  as  is  found  in  every 
city,  for  the  prevention  and  detection  of 
crime.  It  is  composed  of  veteran  sol- 
cliers,  who  wear  the  military  uniform  A  RUSSIAN  PEDLER' 
and  carry  sabres  instead  of  clubs. 

The  second,  or  gendarmerie,  is  a  large  body  of  special 
agents  scattered  all  over  the  empire,  one  or  two  in  every 
little  town,  who  are  superior  to  the  regular  police,  and  are 
authorized  to  call  upon  them  at  any  time  for  assistance  in 
making  investigations  or  arrests.  They  are  well  known  to 
the  public,  wear  a  distinguishing  uniform,  and  their  business 
is  to  look  after  corruption  in  official  circles,  to  see  that  the 
revenues  are  honestly  collected,  and  to  exercise  a  general 
scrutiny  over  the  public  as  well  as  the  office-holders.  This 
system  was  organized  by  the  Emperor  Nicholas  early  in  the 
century.  It  was  reported  to  him  that  there  was  a  large 
amount  of  corruption  in  the  different  branches  of  the  govern- 
ment, and  calling  his  procurator-general,  he  announced  his 


262 


determination  to  hang  every  man   who  stole  the  value  of  a 
piece  of  rope. 

"  Then  your  majesty  will  not  be  able  to  fill  your  offices/' 
was  the  remark  of  the  procurator-general ;  but  Nicholas 
thought  he  would  try.  So,  selecting  the  best  men  he  could 
find,  he  sent  them  through  the  empire  as  spies  upon  his 
officials.  From  this  beginning  the  system  has  become  per- 
manent. These  special  agents  are  known  as  the  Political 
Police. 

Then  comes  the  hated  and  hateful  Third  Section,  the  spies 
who  exist  in  every  branch  of  the  social,  political,  and  com- 
mercial world,  unknown  to  the  public  and  to  each  other. 

They  are  everywhere, 
and  number  hundreds 
of  thousands.  Women 
in  the  highest  society, 
nobles,  princes,  law- 
yers, clerks  in  mercan- 
tile houses,  workmen  in 
the  factories,  waiters  in 
the  hotels  and  cafes. 

READY  FOR  MARKET. 

bar-maids,  drosky  dri- 
vers, pedlers,  courtesans,  house  servants,  no  one  knows  who. 
A  man's  wife,  or  his  son,  or  his  servant  may  be  in  the  pay  of 
the  police.  Everybody  is  suspected  of  belonging  to  the 
much-feared  Third  Section,  but  no  one  would  dare  confess 
it.  These  spies  are  not  paid  regular  salaries,  but  are  re- 
warded for  any  information  they  furnish,  or  any  service 
they  are  called  upon  to  render. 

The  Russian  government  has  the  most  skilful  and  exten- 
sive spy-system  in  the  world.  All  the  capitals  of  Europe 
are  full  of  its  secret  agents.  Those  who  have  read  the 
nasty  novel,  "  As  in  a  Looking  Glass,"  or  seen  Mrs.  Langtry 
in  the  play,  get  a  very  good  glimpse  of  the  system  in  the 
person  and  methods  of  one  of  the  leading  characters.  The 
system  is  so  complete  that  there  is  not  a  person  in  Moscow, 
or  Petersburg  or  any  of  the  cities  who  does  not  feel  that  he 


THE  TERRIBLE  POLICE. 


263 


is  constantly  under  surveillance,  and  conduct  himself  ac- 
cordingly. A  single  word  from  a  spy  may  send  a  man  to 
prison ;  a  secret  denunciation  may  transport  him  to  Siberia. 
The  investigations  are  usually  secret ;  the  accused  may  not 
confront  his  accuser,  and  he  cannot  have  the  benefit  of  legal 
counsel,  or  communicate  with  his  friends  unless  the  police 
have  some  motive  for  permitting  him  to  do  so. 

In  the  days  of  the  doges  in  Venice  there  was  a  hole  in  the 
wall  of  the  palace  through  which  the  envious  and  malicious 


COUNTRY  COURTSHIP. 

might  thrust  an  accusation,  which  was  acted  upon  by  the 
masked  Council  of  Ten,  and  then  the  victims  of  such  de- 
nunciation were  hurried  into  the  dungeons  across  the  Bridge 
of  Sighs,  never  to  see  the  light  of  day  again.  The  cruelties 
of  the  Inquisition  have  horrified  the  world,  and  the  Church 
has  been  compelled  to  deny  that  they  were  ever  practised ; 
but  the  same  persecutions  exist  in  Russia  to-day.  The  de- 
nunciations of  the  secret  police  are  followed  by  inquisitorial 
investigations  :  the  black  boat  of  the  police  department  is 
the  Bridge  of  Sighs,  while  the  fortresses  of  SS.  Peter  and 
Paul  and  Schlusselburg  are  always  open  to  receive  and 
never  to  release. 


264 


RUSSIA : 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

THE    NIHILIST   AT    HOME. 

The  Term  a  Misnomer. — It  does  not  mean  what  it  did. — Several 
Classes  of  Nihilists  in  Russia.— The  Constitutionalists,  the  Lib- 
erals, the  Revolutionists,  and  the  Terrorists. — Sketches  of  some 
of  the  Nihilist  Leaders. — How  Nihilism  will  End. — The  fate  of 
the  Empire. 

WHEN  I  went  to  Russia  I  supposed  that  Nihilism  was 
something  like  political  hysterics,  the  result  of  national  in- 
digestion, like  the  anarchist  outbreaks 
at  Chicago.  The  trouble  in  this  coun- 
try is  that  we  have  swallowed  too  much 
uncooked  food,  "admitted  too  many  half- 
baked  citizens  to  our  body  politic;  but  in 
Russia  the  conditions  are  different. 
Even  the  casual  visitor  from  the  United 
States  feels  like  entering  some  sort  of  a 
protest  against  the  despotic  restrictions 
he  feels  there — the  only  place  in  the 
world  to-day  where  personal  liberty  is 
PRINCE  KRAPOTKIN.  denied  tQ  ^-^  beings_and  when  he 

gets  out  where  he  can  breathe  freely  again,  he  invariably 
confesses  that  he  would  be  a  Nihilist  himself  if  he  were 
compelled  to  spend  his  life  in  such  an  atmosphere. 

I  was  permitted  to  study  the  subject  from  all  sides.  I 
was  fortunate  in  having  letters  of  introduction  to  all  sorts  of 
people  in  official  and  private  life  ;  and  a  letter  of  introduc- 
tion in  Russia  means  something.  It  is  a  draft  upon  the 
hospitality  as  well  as  the  courtesy  of  him  to  whom  it  is  ad- 
dressed. Through  the  kindness  of  the  government  officials 
at  Washington  I  was  commended  to  some  of  the  highest  au- 


THE  NIHILIST  A  T  HOME. 


265 


thorities  in  the  Czar's  dominions.  I  had  letters  from  James 
J.  Brooks,  the  chief  of  the  United  States  secret  service, 
from  Inspector  Byrnes  of  New  York,  and  other  police  au- 
thorities, to  Lieutenant-General  Gresser,  the  head  of  the 
Russian  police.  I  had  other  letters  from  gentlemen  of 
prominence  in  this  country,  ex-United  States  ministers 
and  others,  to  gentlemen  of  prominence  in  that.  I  was  also 
armed  with  letters  to  leading  Nihilists,  and  almost  the  first 
man  I  saw  was  Stepniak,  the  well-known  author  and  ac- 
knowledged leader  of  Nihilism  in  Europe,  now  in  exile  for 


THE  CHURCH  OF  THE  SAVIOR. 

crimes  committed  against  the  Czar  in  the  name  of  liberty. 
These  introductions  opened  to  me  doors  that  are  closed  to 
the  ordinary  tourist,  and  I  frankly  informed  every  one  I 
talked  with  that  I  had  come  to  Russia  to  study  Nihilism. 

General  Gresser  was  very  polite,  fie  is  a  person  of  most 
courteous  and  affable  manners.  He  impresses  one  at  first 
sight  as  a  man  of  great  determination  and  shrewdness,  but 
it  was  difficult  to  believe  that  the  soft-voiced,  handsome, 
and  refined  looking  soldier  to  whom  I  was  presented  was 
the  "  White  Terror,"  as  they  call  him,  of  all  Russia.  He 
looks  and  acts  very  little  like  a  tyrant ;  but  the  claws  of  the 
tiger  are  always  concealed  in  a  velvet  paw. 


266 


RUSSIA : 


General  Gresser  was  willing  to  talk  generally  about  the 
Revolutionary  movement,  but  not  for  publication,  and  as  I 
was  not  seeking  confidential  information  it  was  useless  to 
waste  my  time  with  him.  He  was  courteous  in  detailing  a 
detective  to  escort  me  wherever  I  wished  to  go,  and  show 
me  all  possible  attention  ;  but  the  officer  was  as  dumb  as  a 
stone  whenever  I  approached  the  subject  in  which  I  was 
most  interested.  He  did  not,  apparently,  know  as  much 
about  Nihilism  as  I  did  myself,  and  if  I  had  reached  no 
other  sources  of  information,  I  should  have  left  Russia  with 

the  impression  that  such  a 
thing  as  a  Revolutionary 
party  never  existed  and  that 
political  crimes  were  un- 
known. 

General  Gresser  was  kind 
enough  to  hint,  however,  that 
such  knowledge  as  I  sought 
was  difficult  to  obtain,  and 
that  the  freedom  of  inquiry 
and  publication  that  existed 
in  the  United  States  was  not 
tolerated  in  Russia.  I  in- 
ferred from  his  remarks  that  it  would  be  more  agreeable  all 
around  if  I  prosecuted  my  inquiries  with  great  caution,  and 
published  nothing  I  heard.  He  was  very  friendly,  and  his 
warnings  were  conveyed  in  the  gentlest  manner  possible. 
No  one  can  make  sketches  in  Russia  without  the  permission 
of  the  police,  but  the  artist  who  accompanied  me  was  al- 
lowed the  greatest  freedom.  I  made  memoranda  freely, 
everywhere  I  went,  and  was  not  interfered  with  ;  but  a  young 
lady  from  Philadelphia  who  attempted  to  take  notes  of 
some  objects  of  interest  in  one  of  the  museums  was  pro- 
hibited from  doing  so. 

It  was  therefore  not  from  the  police  that  I  obtained  the 
information  I  brought  from  Russia ;  but  they  knew  from  the 
start  what  I  was  there  for,  and  permitted  me  to  do  as  I 


A  COUNTRY  MAIDEN. 


THE  NIHILIST  A  T  HOME. 


267 


pleased.  I  found,  however,  very  few  people  who  were  will- 
ing to  discuss  the  political  situation,  even  in  the  privacy  of 
their  own  parlors.  A  few  gentlemen  talked  to  me  freely, 
and  gave  me  some  important  information,  but  always  with 
great  caution,  and  the  most  impressive. stipulations  that  their 
confidence  should  be  respected.  One  gentleman  of  influ- 
ence, a  high  official  of  the  Government,  remarked  as  I  was 
parting  from  him  one  evening,  that  if  our  conversation  should 
be  reported  at  police  headquarters,  he  would  certainly  suffer 
something  worse  than 
disgrace,  and  I  might 
need  the  protection  of 
the  American  Minister. 
I  am  not  permitted 
to  give  the  sources  from 
which  I  secured  my 
knowledge  of  Russian 
affairs,  for  reasons  I 
have  already  explained ; 
but  my  conclusions  are 
my  own,  and  lead  ir- 
resistibly to  this  one 
fact,  that  Nihilism  is  the  protest  of  enlightened  reason 
against  the  despotic  tyranny  of  the  police.  Every  man  in 
Russia  who  dares  talk  at  all  admits  it.  The  Czar  is 
generally  respected  and  beloved  by  the  people.  The  police 
are  hated  by  everyone.  The  condition  is  that  of  abject 
submission  to  tyranny.  No  man  or  woman  is  safe. 
Even  an  acquaintance  with  suspected  persons  is  crime.  A 
word  from  a  spy  will  send  the  best  man  in  Petersburg  to 
prison.  There  is  not  even  freedom  of  thought.  A  man 
may  not  even  have  opinions  that  are  contrary  to  "  the  Admin- 
istrative System. "  As  long  as  he  keeps  his  opinions  to  him- 
self he  is  safe,  but  if  he  utters  them,  not  only  in  Russia,  but 
in  Paris,  or  London,  or  anywhere  else,  they  are  liable  to  be 
reported  by  one  of  the  thousands  of  spies,  and  from  that  day 
he  is  a  marked  man.  Nihilism  is  an  hysterical  remonstrance 


AN   EXILE  SETTLEMENT. 


268 


RUSSIA: 


against  this  condition  of  affairs.     It  is  simply  a  refusal  to 
submit. 

The  word  Nihilism  has  lost  its  meaning.  At  least  it  does 
not  mean  now  what  it  once  did.  The  word  was  first  used  by 
St.  Augustine  in  his  writings,  and  was  invented  to  describe 
a  policy  that  meant  the  destruction  of  kings — "  Ant  Ccesar, 
ant  Nihil"  Ivan  Tourguenieff,  the  novelist,  borrowed  the 
term  to  baptize  the  radical  party  of  Russia,  and  it  has  stuck 
to  them  ever  since.  It  is  now  applied  to  all  classes  who 
oppose  the  government,  from  the  insane  fanatic  who  throws 
a  bomb  at  the  Czar,  to  the  statesman 
who  sees  the  evils  of  the  present 
system  and  conscientiously  warns  the 
Government  that  it  cannot  always 
exist  as  it  is. 

The  whole  body  of  people  in  Rus- 
sia who  are  opposed  to  the  present 
condition  of  the  empire  are  Nihilists, 
and  they  are  wrongly  named.  This 
body  is  divided  into  several  classes, 
or  parties.  First,  there  are  the  Con- 
stitutionalists, reasoning  and  loyal 
men,  and  they  are  many — the  late 
Czar  himself  was  one  of  them — who 
believe  that  the  proper  cure  for  the 
evils  that  exist  in  Russia  is  the  adoption  of  a  Constitu- 
tion, a  change  from  an  absolute  despotism  to  a  liberal 
monarchy,  like  Germany  or  England.  They  believe  that 
this  is  the  manifest  destiny  of  Russia,  that  the  spirit  of 
the  age  requires  it,  and  that  it  sooner  or  later  must  come. 
They  differ  widely  as  to  the  proper  method  to  bring  about 
what  they  all  desire.  The  late  Czar,  had  he  been  allowed  to 
live  a  few  months  longer,  would  have  given  the  people  just 
this  thing.  A  proclamation  calling  for  the  election  of  a 
"  consultative  assembly  "  lay  unsigned  on  his  table  when  he 
died.  Therefore  his  death  was  the  more  lamented.  The 


AFTER  TEN  YEARS 
EXILE. 


THE  NIHILIST  A  T  HOME.  269 

present  Czar  is  opposed  to  his  father's  plan.     He  might  have 
felt  differently  had  the  last  bomb  not  been  thrown. 

Next  comes  the  liberal  party,  the  Republicans.  Their 
platform  demands: 

1.  A  general  amnesty  for  all  political  offenders  who  have 
committed  no  crime  but  resistance  and  remonstrance  to  the 
present  state  of  affairs. 

2.  Freedom  of  speech. 

3.  Freedom  of  the  press. 

4.  Freedom  of  public  meeting  and  public  discussion  of 
political  affairs,  such  as  exists  in  England. 

5.  The  right  of  petition  to  the  Czar,  and  the  considera- 
tion of  petitions  by  him. 

6.  The  abolition  of  the  secret  police,  and  of  star-chamber 
trials,  and  the  privilege  of  meeting  accusers  face  to  face. 

7.  Open  trials  for  all  offenders  by  juries  subject  to  the 
challenge  of  the  accused. 

8.  The   election  of   a  law-making   body  by  the   people, 
with  free  electoral  agitation,  and  a  free  ballot. 

In  other  words,  the  Liberal  party  want  a  condition  of 
political  affairs  similar  to  that  which  exists  in  Great  Britain. 
It  is  difficult  to  learn  or  even  estimate  the  extent  of  this 
party.  The  Liberal  leaders  will  tell  you  that  if  these  ques- 
tions were  submitted  to  the  people  they  would  be  almost 
unanimously  adopted,  that  scarcely  anyone  wants  the  present 
despotism  to  continue ;  but  to  advocate  such  measures  is 
considered  a  crime  that  not  less  than  fifteen  years  in  the 
government  mines  of  Siberia  will  atone  for,  and  that  means 
a  slow  death,  with  the  most  intense  suffering  and  privation. 
It  is  worse  than  a  similar  period  spent  in  the  prisons  of  the 
United  States. 

The  third  political  element  is  known  as  the  Radical  party, 
who  are  Revolutionists.  They  demand  the  same  liberties 
asked  for  by  the  Liberals,  but  they  advocate  the  overthrow 
of  the  present  government  by  force.  They  have  their  pro- 
pagandists all  over  the  empire,  in  every  city  and  -village, 
in  every  school  and  factory,  seeking  to  arouse  the  people  to 


270 


RUSSIA: 


violence.  Occasionally  insurrections  occur,  but  the  masses 
are  ignorant  and  lethargic,  are  without  arms  or  ammunition, 
and  cannot  obtain  them,  for  the  sale  of  weapons  is  a  gov- 
ernment monopoly,  and  the  permission  of  the  police  is  neces- 
sary to  own  a  gun.  The  crime  of  being  a  Radical,  when  de- 
tected, is  punished  by  banishment  to  Siberia  or  imprison- 
ment in  a  dungeon  for  life ;  often  by  death  on  the  gallows. 
*  The  Nihilists  proper,  or  the  Terrorists,  as  they  are  desig- 
nated in  Russia,  are  Radicals  who  believe  in  immediate 
action,  who  hit  a  head  when  they  see  it,  and  resist  police 
authority  with  a  revolver  or  a  bomb.  The  Terrorists  be- 
lieve in  blowing  up  the  palaces  and  the  government  build- 
ings with  dynamite.  They  advocate  the  assassination  of  the 
Czar  and  his  officials,  the  revenging  of  wrongs  with  wrongs, 
the  murder  of  officials  who  pursue  them  ;  and  in  their  secret 
associations  they  try  and  condemn  to  death  the  police,  the 
ministers,  and  the  Czar  himself,  for  crimes  committed  against 
the  people.  A  Radical  who  has  been  accused,  sentenced, 
and  escapes  is  usually  a  Terrorist.  Liberals  become  such 
after  they  have  suffered  from  the  injustice  of  the  government. 
The  Terrorist  party  is  composed  in  a  large  part  of  wronged 
men,  suffering  for  vengeance,  and  the  friends  of  those  who 
have  been  condemned  for  opinions'  sake ;  while  the  re- 
mainder are  wild  students  and  fanatics  who  believe,  or  pre- 
tend to  believe,  that  all  law  is  oppression. 

These  are  the  Nihilists  proper.  They  are  without  excep- 
tion against  all  laws,  and  advocate  the  destruction  of  the 
State.  One  cannot  find  a  Nihilist  who  believes  in  anything. 
They  are  Atheists,  and  deny  Divine  as  well  as  human  author- 
ity. They  are  all  Free-lovers,  and  want  the  marriage  relation 
abolished.  They  are  Communists,  Socialists,  and  want  a 
common  division  of  property  every  Saturday  night,  and 
oftener  if  necessary.  They  believe  that  the  accumulation  of 
money  is  a  crime,  and  that  the  incomes  of  all  men  should  be 
equal.  They  would  destroy  the  Church,  the  home,  and 
change  all  the  conditions  of  civilized  existence.  In  other 


THE  NIHILIST  A  T  HOME. 


2/1 


words  they  are  lunatics,  fitted  for  nothing  but  destruction 
and  murder.  Their  creed  is  confined  to  a  single  word — 
Annihilation. 

The  number  of  the  Terrorist  party  in  Russia  is  very  small. 
The  police  do  not  permit  them  to  exist  there.  A  few  may 
be  found  in  every  city,  and  fugitives  are  scattered  through 
the  small  towns,  living  like  outlaws  on  forged  or  stolen  pass- 
ports. They  are  hunted  down  like  mad  dogs,  and  are  dis- 
covered as  certainly  as  they  show  their  intentions.  They 


THE  GREAT  CANNON. 

sometimes  hold  meetings  in  secluded  places,  but  the  police- 
system  is  so  thorough  that  they  cannot  assemble  often  without 
detection.  In  Geneva  and  Zurich,  Switzerland,  the  most  of 
them  are  gathered;  exiles,  who  dare  not  show  their  faces  at 
home,  or  cross  the  borders  of  a  state  with  which  Russia  has 
an  extradition  treaty.  Some  of  them  are  in  London  and 
some  in  New  York.  They  are  watched  in  all  these  places. 
The  Russian  police  keep  them  constantly  under  surveillance 
wherever  they  go,  and  the  moment  they  reach  a  country 
where  they  may  be  arrested,  they  are  sent  to  prison. 

There  is  now  pending  in  the  Senate  an  extradition  treaty 
between  the  United  States  and  Russia  for  the  surrender  of 


2/2  K  US  SI  A: 

such  as  have  made  this  country  an  asylum.  The  treaty  has 
been  pending  a  good  while,  but  the  politicians  in  the  Senate 
dare  not  ratify  it. 

Occasionally  there  is  established  in  Russia  a  secret  print- 
ing-office, in  which  these  creatures  publish  tracts  intended 
to  educate  the  people  to  their  views  ;  but  such  establishments 
never  exist  long.  It  is  impossible  to  conceal  them  from  the 
police.  It  is  easier  to  do  the  printing  in  Switzerland  or  Lon- 
don, and  send  the  documents  to  Russia;  but  even  this  is 
extremely  difficult,  for  the  importation  of  printed  matter  is 
prohibited,  and  there  are  Russian  spies  in  every  Nihilistic 
colony — in  Geneva,  Zurich,  London,  and  New  York.  No 
man  can  go  beyond  the  reach  of  Gresser's  detectives. 

Some*of  these  Nihilistic  exiles  are  men  of  ability  and  edu- 
cation. Some  are  even  men  of  genius.  Stepniak  would 
command  leadership  anywhere.  He  is  a  man  of  thirty-eight 
or  forty  years,  of  thorough  education,  and  his  numerous  and 
voluminous  books-testify  to  his  literary  ability  and  learning. 
He  is  the  editor  of  a  revolutionary  paper  in  London,  and  is 
intellectually,  perhaps,  the  foremost  man  in  the  Terrorist 
circle.  His  real  name  and  his  history  are  unknown  even  to 
his  intimate  friends,  but  he  is  supposed  to  be  of  a  noble 
family,  and  is  known  to  have  been  a  graduate  from  the  Mili- 
tary School  at  Petersburg,  and  an  officer  in  the  Russian 
army  during  the  late  war  with  Turkey.  Dragomanoff,  one 
of  the  leading  men  in  the  Geneva  colony,  is  also  a  scholar 
and  writer  of  ability.  He  was  a  professor  in  the  University 
of  Kiev,  and  fled  to  escape  punishment  for  the  publication 
of  seditious  pamphlets.  He  was  also  engaged  in  a  conspir- 
acy that  ended  in  assassination,  although,  I  believe,  he  had 
no  personal  connection  with  the  crime.  It  was  committed 
by  his  associates.  DragomanofI  is  the  author  of  a  History 
of  Poland,  and  of  a  work  on  the  Muscovite  Democracy, 
which  were  issued  before  his  exile.  He  has  since  published 
a  number  of  works  of  a  political  character,  and  is  the  editor 
of  the  revolutionary  paper  in  Geneva. 

Joukowski,  another  man  of  ability,  is  a  Pole,  who  was  the 


THE  NIHILIS T  AT  HOME. 

leader  of  an  insurrection  some  years  ago  that  for  a  time 
looked  serious,  and  was  maintained  long  enough  for  him  to 
make  his  escape.  He  lives  in  Geneva  and  earns  his  living 
by  teaching  music.  Several  hideous  crimes  are  laid  to  his 
charge. 

The  famous  Vera  Sassulich  is  living  in  Geneva,  the  wife 
of  a  fellow  exile.  She  is  the  woman  who  assassinated  Gen- 
eral Trepoff,  the  predecessor  of  General  Gresser  as  the  head 
of  the  police,  and  is  the  Charlotte  Corday,  or  rather  the 
Louise  Michel,  of  the  Nihilists.  Her  story  is  exceedingly 
remarkable.  She  was  the  daughter  of  a  tradesman  in  one 

of  the  smaller  towns  of 
Northern  Russia.  Her 
father  was  a  man  of 
some  consequence  in 
the  community,  and  his 
daughter  showed  intel- 
lectual force  and  ambi- 
tion. After  exhausting 
the  educational  resour- 

SIBERIA  IN  WINTER.  ,    ,  , 

ces  of  the  place  where 

she.  lived,  she  was  sent  to  Petersburg  to  study.  There  she 
made  the  acquaintance  of  other  students,  and  become  infected 
with  revolutionary  ideas,  of  which  she  made  no  secret.  The 
principal  of  the  school  she  was  attending  became  frightened 
lest  she  should  be  held  responsible  for  the  sentiments  of 
her  pupil,  and  sent  her  away.  Vera  then  went  to  Zurich,  the 
hot-bed  of  Socialism  and  Nihilism  and  all  the  other  isms 
known  to  Europe.  There  she  became  a  member  of  a  Nihil- 
istic group,  and  after  a  year  or  two  went  to  Petersburg  as  a 
propagandist. 

In  February,  1878,  General  Trepoff,  the  head  of  the  police, 
visited  a  prison,  and,  as  is  customary,  all  the  prisoners  took 
off  their  hats  out  of  respect  to  him,  except  one.  That  was  a 
suspected  Nihilist  named  Bogoluiboff,  who  was  awaiting  ex- 
amination. Trepoff  ordered  him  to  take  off  his  hat.  He 
refused.  Trepoff  asked  him  why  he  refuse  and  he  replied 
18 


274 


RUSSIA: 


in  very  insulting  terms.  The  commandant  of  the  prison 
explained  that  the  man  was  always  refractory,  and  Trepoff 
ordered  him  whipped — a  hundred  lashes  with  the  knout. 
This  is  one  of  the  most  cruel  instruments  of  torture — a 
lash  with  a  dozen  or  more  leathern  thongs  with  steel  hooks 
at  their  ends.  It  is  laid  on  the  bare  back,  and  as  it  curls 
around  the  body  the  hooks  seize  hold  of  the  flesh  and  tear  it. 
Bogoluiboff  was  stripped,  his  hands  were  tied  above  him  as 
far  as  they  could  be  stretched,  and  his  feet  were  fastened  in 


VERA  SASSULICH. 

the  stocks.     Thus    he  was  most    cruelly  whipped,  fainting 
with  agony  several  times  during  the  torture. 

Bogoluiboff  belonged  to  the  same  group  of  Nihilists  as 
Vera  Sassulich,  and  they,  with  five  others,  constituted  the  ex- 
ecutive committee.  The  fact  and  the  manner  of  his  punish- 
ment were  learned  from  a  Nihilist  who  was  among  the  guards 
at  the  prison.  The  committee  met  to  discuss  the  outrage, 
and  decided  that  TrepofT,  who  was  responsible  for  the  pun- 
ishment, must  die.  They  drew  lots  to  decide  who  should  be 
executioner.  Fate  threw  the  ballot  into  the  hands  of  the 
woman,  and  the  next  day,  armed  with  a  revolver,  she  went 


THE  NIHILIST  A  T  HOME. 


275 


to  the  headquarters  of  the  police,  obtained  admission  to 
Trepoff  under  some  pretense,  and  shot  him  in  his  chair. 

The  case  was  such  a  plain  one  that  the  police  decided  to 
try  the  prisoner  by  jury,  an  unusual  proceeding.  Vera  was 
acquitted  on  the  ground  of  insanity.  It  was  not  supposed 
that  even  in  Russia,  a  young  girl,  for  she  was  then  but 
twenty-two  years  of  age,  could  commit  such  a  crime  in  a 
rational  moment,  with  the  certainty  of  punishment  by  death. 
She  has  since  been  living  in  Switzerland,  one  of  the  her- 
oines of  the  Nihilistic  party. 

Vera  Sassulich  is  a  plain  woman,  but  is  said  to  have  a  very 
fine  mind,  and  as  her  history  shows,  an  unusual  amount  of 
nerve.  She  is  generally  supposed  to  be  insane,  although 
on  other  than  political  subjects  she  is  perfectly  rational. 

The  other  Nihilistic  heroine  was  very  beautiful,  if  the 
many  descriptions  of  her  person,  and  her  photographs,  are  to 
be  relied  upon.  This  was  Sophia  Perovskaia,  the  only 
woman  who  has  been  executed  in  Russia  for  over  fifty  years. 
She  came  from  a  noble  family.  Her  grandfather  was  Min- 
ister of  the  Interior  in  the  cabinet  of  the  Czar  Nicholas. 
Her  father  was  the  Governor-general  of  Petersburg.  Her 
great-great  uncle  was  the  morganatic  husband  of  the 
Empress  Elizabeth.  By  rank  she  was  a  countess,  and  her 
story  is  told  in  a  novel  under  the  title  of  "  A  Nihilist  Prin- 
cess." She  was  a  belle  in  the  society  of  the  capital ;  and 
an  aide  to  the  late  Czar,  Alexander  II,  was  her  accepted 
lover.  She  became  a  Nihilist  in  a  peculiar  manner. 

Sophia's  father  was  from  all  accounts  a  brutal  ruffian.  On 
one  of  his  estates  there  was  a  peasant  who  developed  con- 
siderable talent  and  was  educated  by  him.  This  peasant, 
whose  name  is  given  as  Federoff,  became  a  physician,  and 
while  in  the  university  imbibed  revolutionary  ideas.  When  he 
returned  to  the  estates  of  his  master,  for  it  was  before  the 
emancipation  of  the  serfs,  he  was  detected  in  organizing  a  con- 
spiracy, and  ordered  to  be  whipped.  Through  the  assistance 
of  the  Countess  Perovskaia,  Sophia's  mother,  Federoff  was 
successful  in  making  his  escape.  The  Count  learned  of  his 


276  KUSSIA: 

wife's  part  in  the  matter,  and,  it  is  said,  discovered  a  liaison 
between  the  Countess  and  the  educated  serf.  He  was  a 
man  of  intense  passion  and  jealousy,  and  shut  his  wife  up  in 
a  room  in  the  palace,  where  she  was  imprisoned  for  several 
years  till  released  through  the  aid  of  Federoff,  who  had 
learned  of  her  sufferings  on  his  account,  and  came  from 
Switzerland,  where  he  was  an  exile,  to  rescue  her.  The 
couple  went  off  together  and  lived  thereafter  as  man  and 
wife. 

Sophia  never  saw  her  mother  from  the  time  she  was  five 
years  old,  and  was  ignorant  of  the  family  history  till  she  was 
a  grown  woman.     When  she  was  eighteen  or  nineteen,  she 
took  into  her  service  as  a  maid  a  Nihilist 
woman,  sent  from  Switzerland  for  this 
purpose    by   her   mother   and  Federoff. 
Through  this  woman  she  learned  of  the 
treatment  the  Countess,  her  mother,  had 
received   from  her  father,  and  the  fact 
that  she   was   still   alive.     She  entered 
into  correspondence  with  her,  and  having 
suffered  much  herself  from  her  father's 
tyranny,  became  not  only  a  rebel  against       SOPHIA^PEROV- 
him,    but   against    the    government    of  SKAIA. 

which  he  was  an  official.  Her  maid  introduced  her  into  a 
Nihilistic  group,  where  she  was  petted  and  lionized,  till 
finally  her  associations  came  to  the  knowledge  of  her  father. 
To  avoid  the  consequences  of  his  wrath  she  fied  from  home 
and  took  refuge  with  her  mother,  who  was  still  living  in 
Switzerland  as  the  wife  of  the  Doctor  Federoff,  or  whatever 
his  name  was. 

Whether  actuated  by  a  desire  to  avenge  her  mother's 
wrongs,  or  for  some  other  reason,  she  returned  to  Petersburg 
in  disguise,  and  became  the  housekeeper  for  a  group  of  con- 
spirators. She  was  arrested,  but  her  father's  official  posi- 
tion enabled  him  to  secure  her  release,  and  she  was  sent  out 
of  the  country,  promising  never  to  return.  His  motive  in 
protecting  his  daughter  from  the  consequences  of  her  crime 


THE  NIHILIST  A  T  HOME. 


277 


is  said  to  have  been  a  selfish  rather  than  a  paternal  one,  as 
he  wished  to  avoid  the  disgrace  to  his  name  the  disclosure 
would  bring.  But  she  returned  to  Petersburg  shortly  after, 
and  was  the  woman  who  gave  the  signal  of  the  approach  of 
the  Emperor  to  the  bomb-throwers  in  the  park  when  the 
late  Czar  was  assassinated.  She  was  arrested  again,  and 
again  her  father  succeeded  in  preventing  her  connection 
with  the  crime  from  becoming  known  ;  but  she  was  deter- 
mined he  should  be  disgraced  and  punished,  and  when  the 
trial  of  the  other  conspirators  took  place,  she  coolly  walked 
into  court,  took  her  seat  with  the  prisoners,  announced  her 
identity,  and  demanded  the  privilege  of  sharing  their  fate. 
Her  request  was  granted  ;  she  was  tried,  confessed  her  guilt, 
and  was  hung. 

Prince  Peter  Krapotkine  is  another  noble  who  has  been 
and  still  is  a  leader  of  the  Terrorists.  He  is  now  the  asso- 
ciate of  Stepnaik  in  the  publication  of  the  revolutionary  paper 
in  London.  The  Nihilists  are  fond  of  making  the  assertion 
that  Krapotkine  has  a  better  title  to  the  throne  of  Russia 
than  Alexander  III.,  as  the  latter  is  only  a  German.  It  is 
true  that  the  foremost  agitator  and  the  most  eloquent 
speaker  in  the  Terrorist  ranks  is  directly  descended  from 
the  ancient  house  of  Rurik,  who  ruled  Russia  for  centuries 
before  the  present  Germanic  dynasty  of  Romanoff  came 
upon  the  throne.  He  can  trace  his  lineage  directly,  and  his 
right  to  the  title  of  Prince  of  the  House  of  Rurik  is  not 
denied.  He  was  a  cousin  to  General  Krapotkine,  the 
Governor  of  KharkofT,  who  was  killed  by  the  Nihilists  in 
1879. 

Krapotkine  is  a  man  of  splendid  education,  having  studied 
at  the  college  of  the  Pages,  to  which  only  the  sons  of  the 
members  of  the  imperial  court  are  admitted,  and  afterward 
at  the  universities  of  Petersburg,  Leipsic,  Heidelburg,  and 
Zurich,  proving  his  superior  scholarship  at  each.  Then  he 
was  assigned  to  scientific  work  under  the  direction  of  the 
government,  as  secretary  of  the  Imperial  Geographical 


278 


RUSSIA: 


Society.     Afterward  he  entered  the  service  of  the  court,  and 
became  Grand  Chamberlain  to  the  wife  of  the  late  Czar. 

During  his  studies  in  Germany  and  Switzerland  Krapot- 
kine  became  infected  with  the  virus  of  Socialism,  joined  the 
Society  of  the  Internationale,  and  adopted  their  most  extreme 
ideas.  His  views  and  his  relations  with  this  socialistic 
organization  were  kept  secret,  however,  and  he  served  at 
court  and  in  the  employ  of  the  government  for  more  than 
ten  years  without  being  discovered,  being  constantly  in 
active  communication  with  the  revolutionary  circle  all  this 
time.  He  was  member  of  a  group 
of  Nihilists  and  Grand  Chamberlain 
at  the  palace  at  the  time  of  the  un- 
successful attempt  to  assassinate  the 
Emperor  in  1866,  and  yet  managed 
to  keep  a  good  average  and  make  his 
position  at  the  Winter  Palace  of  value 
to  the  revolutionary  party.  But  this , 
sort  of  thing  could  not  last  forever.  , 
A  raid  was  made  by  the  police  upon 
a  Nihilistic  meeting,  and  to  the  con- 
sternation of  the  court,  and  the , 
amazement  of  the  whole  empire,  the  fa- 
mous, or  rather  notorious  "  Borodin," 
the  most  dangerous  agitator  in  all 
Petersburg,  for  whom  the  police  had  been  searching  for 
years,  and  who  appeared  and  disappeared  as  if  by  magic, 
proved  to  be  Prince  Krapotkine,  the  Chamberlain  of  the 
Empress. 

For  three  years  Krapotkine  was  imprisoned  in  a  dungeon 
in  the  Fortress  of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul.  To  save  his  life  he 
was  taken  to  the  hospital,  from  which  he  escaped  in  1876, 
and  has  since  been  living  in  London.  The  manner  of  his 
escape  was  quite  remarkable.  By  bribing  his  nurse  he  was 
able  to  communicate  with  his  friends  outside  the  hospital, 
who  thus  learned  that  he  was  alive.  They  had  supposed  him 
to  have  been  secretly  executed  at  the  time  of  his  arrest, 


HOUSE-SERVANT. 


THE  NIHILIST  A  T  HOME.  279 

It  was  the  habit  to  haul  wood  into  the  court-yard  of  the 
hospital  one  day  of  each  week,  when  the  gates  were  kept  con- 
stantly open,  and  a  great  deal  of  confusion  occurred.  The 
physicians  had  ordered  that  Krapotkine  should  have  out- 
door exercise,  and  he  was  allowed  to  walk  in  this  court, 
attended,  or  rather  watched  by  a  single  nurse,  his  physical 
weakness  being  such  that  there  was  no  thought  of  his 
escape.  But  through  the  bribed  nurse  he  arranged  for  his 
friends  to  have  a  drosky  and  a  swift  horse  outside  the  gates 
on  the  day  when  the  wood  was  being  hauled.  This  was 
done,  and  he,  gathering  all  his  strength,  ran  among  the 
crowd  of  wood-carts,  got  outside  the  gates,  into  the  drosky, 
and  was  off  almost  before  his  movements  were  noticed. 

These  are  the  Nihilistic  leaders  in  Europe.  Leo  Hart- 
mann,  who  was  in  charge  of  the  mine  of  dynamite  laid  for  the 
Emperor  under  the  railway  track  at  Moscow,  and  escaped, 
while  the  rest  of  the  conspirators  were  hanged  or  sent  to 
the  mines  of  Siberia  for  life,  is  now  in  New  York,  the  super- 
intendent of  an  electrical  manufactory.  There  are  several 
other  refugees  in  this  country,  but  none  of  prominence. 

I  have  it  from  the  Nihilist  leaders  themselves  that  the 
number  of  Terrorists  in  Russia  is  not  greater  than  five  hun- 
dred, and  as  they  are  scattered  through  an  area  comprising 
one-seventh  of  the  entire  globe,  among  over  a  hundred  mil- 
lions of  people,  it  will  be  seen  that  their  influence  cannot 
be  very  extended.  They  are  constantly  moving  from  one 
point  to  another,  like  the  Wandering  Jew,  disguised  as  ped- 
lers  or  artisans.  But  there  is  an  irresistible  tendency  to 
haunt  the  cities,  where  they  cluster  like  moths  around  the 
candle,  and  sooner  or  later  are  scorched  by  contact  with  the 
police.  Most  of  them  assume  the  names  and  carry  the  pass- 
ports of  dead  men. 

The  greatest  difficulty  the  Nihilistic  propaganda  meet 
with  is  the  loyalty  and  the  stupidity  of  the  peasants.  Among 
this  portion  of  the  population  they  can  make  no  progress. 
"  For,"  said  Stepniak,  "  what  can  be  done  among  a  class  of 
men  whose  greatest  issue  in  religion  is  whether  the  sign  o/ 


280 


KUSSIA: 


the  cross  should  be  made  with  two  fingers  or  three."  An- 
other great  difficulty  is  the  want  of  means.  The  Terrorists 
are,  as  a  rule,  men  without  property.  The  estates  of  those 
who  are  rich  are  confiscated  by  the  Government  as  soon  as 
their  connection  with  the  conspiracies  is  known,  and  the 
rate  of  wages  paid  in  Russia  for  the  best  grades  of  working- 
men  is  so  small  as  to  be  barely  sufficient  to  keep  the  soul 
and  body  together.  Some  years  ago  there  was  a  rich  noble 
by  the  name  of  Dimitri  Lizogoub,  who  consecrated  his  entire 
fortune  of  a  million  or  more  of  roubles  to 
the  work  of  Terrorism  ;  but  it  was  soon 
discovered  where  the  conspirators  got 
their  means,  and  the  source  of  supply 
was  cut  off  by  confiscation. 

The  question  that  is  always  uppermost 
in  the  mind  of  whoever  studies  the  polit- 
ical conditions  in  Russia,  is,  "  Where 
will  the  Revolutionary  movement  end  ?  " 
I  asked  it  of  every  man  I  talked  with. 
The  answers  were  various.  But  most  of 
them  seemed  to  think  that  Russia  would 
follow  in  the  footsteps  of  France.  Their 
theory  was  that  sooner  or  later  the  great 
Empire  would  become  involved  in  a  dis-  THE  STARSHINA. 
astrous  foreign  war,  with  Germany,  or 
Austria,  or  England,  or  all  three  perhaps,  for  Russia's  only 
allies  in  Europe  to-day  are  France  and  little  Denmark ;  that 
the  invasion  of  the  country  and  the  destruction  of  the  army 
would  give  the  large  liberal  element  a  chance  to  rise, 
which  would  be  assisted  and  protected  by  the  foreign 
powers,  for  the  existence  of  this  mighty,  aggressive  despot- 
ism is  not  only  a  menance  to  the  rest  of  Europe,  but  an  im- 
passable barrier  to  civilization  ;  and  that  Poland  would  be 
ultimately  restored  to  independence  under  the  protection  of 
Germany  and  Austria,  and  Germanized,  and  that  a  liberal 
government,  or  at  most  a  limited  monarchy,  would  succeed 
the  despotism  at  Petersburg.  Some  think  a  republic  will 


THE'-NIHJLIST  A  T  HOME.  28 1 

rise  upon  the  ruins  of  the  empire,  that  a  revolution,  with  a 
Commune,  will  follow  the  defeat  of  the  Czar's  armres,  that 
the  palaces  will  be  stripped  of  their  riches  as  they  were  in 
France,  and  that  a  reign  of  anarchy  will  be  succeeded  by  a 
democratic  government  of  the  people. 

The  present  system  of  the  government  in  Russia  is  the 
same  that  was  created  by  Peter  the  Great  toward  the  close 
of  the  eighteenth  century.  There  have  been  few  changes 
since.  It  is  an  absolute,  hereditary  despotism,  the  whole 
executive,  legislative,  judicial,  and  religious  authority  rest- 
ing in  a  single  man,  whose  will  alone  is  law,  and  who 
received  his  power,  according  to  the  theory  of  the  empire, 
from  the  Almighty  himself,  whose  Vice-Regent  on  earth  he 
is.  The  Czar  therefore  combines  in  one  the  authority  and 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Pope  and  the  King. 

The  Administrative  System  comprises  four  Boards,  or 
Councils,  possessing  separate  functions,  whose  acts  are  those 
of  the  Czar,  and  must  be  approved  by  him.  First,  there  is 
what  is  known  as  the  Privy  Council,  a  sort  of  Kitchen 
Cabinet.  Second,  the  Council  of  the  Empire,  composed  of  as 
many  and  such  persons  as  the  Czar  shall  elect,  whose  duty 
is  to  exercise  a  sort  of  general  supervision  over  the  affairs  of 
the  empire,  frame  laws  for  the  government  of  the  people, 
direct  the  collection  and  expenditure  of  the  revenues,  and 
confer  concerning  the  foreign  as  well  as  the  domestic  policy 
of  the  government.  Next  come  the  Ministry,  a  body  similar 
to  the  Cabinet  in  the  United  States,  or  the  Ministry  of  Eng- 
land, divided  into  eleven  departments,  as  follows :  The 
Ministry  of  the  Imperial  Household  ;  of  Foreign  Affairs ;  of 
War  ;  of  Marine  ;  of  Internal  Affairs  ;  of  Public  Instruction  ; 
of  Finance  ;  of  Justice ;  of  the  Imperial  Domain  ;  of  Public 
Works ;  and  the  Comptroller  and  Auditor-General.  These 
several  ministries  are  subdivided  into  Bureaux,  as  in  the 
United  States. 

The  empire  i§  divided  into  general  governments  or  vice- 
royalties,  sixty-eight  in  number,  and  these  into  625  districts 
or  provinces.  At  the  head  of  each  vice-royalty  is  a  gov- 


282 


RUSSIA  : 


ernor-general,  who  has  supreme  control,  both  civil  and  mili- 
tary, and  he  has  a  council  of  regency  or  cabinet,  similar  to 
the  ministry  at  Petersburg,  but  subordinate  to  him. 

Then  there  is  the  Senate,  an  organization  of  nobles,  also 
appointed  by  the  Czar,  whose  duties  are  those  of  a  supreme 
court,  with  extraordinary  powers. 

This  completes  the  civil  establishment,  but  in  addition  is 
the  Holy  Synod,  in  charge  of  ecclesiastical  affairs,  which  I 
have  referred  to  elsewhere. 

In  European  Russia  the  people  are  divided  into  com- 
munes or  mirs,  which  elect  an  ex- 
ecutive, known  as  the  Starshina  or 
Elder,  who  has  charge  of  village  af- 
fairs. The  communes  or  mirs  are 
combined  into  districts,  and  control- 
led by  the  zemstoves  or  assemblies, 
composed  of  nobles,  whose  duties  are 
similar  to  those  of  the  county  com- 
missioners in  the  United  States. 
They  collect  the  taxes,  see  to  the  re- 
pair and  construction  of  roads  and 
other  public  works,  and  have  a  gen- 
"eral  supervision  over  the  district 
affairs. 

There  are  about  six  hundred 
thousand  nobles  in  Russia,  compos- 
ing what  is  known  as  the  Tshin. 
landowners,  and  formerly  held  the  serfs.  The  landowners 
who  are  not  nobles  are  known  as  boyars,  and  hold  large 
estates,  which  they  have  acquired  by  purchase,  or  by  descent 
from  their  ancestors,  who  obtained  them  from  the  crown  in 
early  times  as  rewards  for  military  service  or  gifts  of  money. 

The  base  of  the  Russian  system  is  patriarchal  govern- 
ment. The  father  of  a  family -is  a  little  czar,  while  the  Czar 
is  the  father  of  all.  Those  who  are  interested  in  the  com- 
munal organization  of  Russia,  which  is  one  of  the  most  curi- 
ous in  existence,  may  read  the  admirable  work  of  Mackenzie 


A  YOUNG  BOYAR. 


They    are    the   great 


THE  NIHILIST  A  T  HOME. 


283 


Wallace,  which   has    been  accepted  as  authority  in  Russia 
and  all  parts  of  Europe. 

It  is  rather  remarkable  that  the  first  of  all  republics  was 
organized  and  existed  where  the  greatest  despotism  in  the 
world  now  remains.  Before  the  republics  of  Italy,  away 
back  in  the  centuries,  long  before  America  was  discovered 
or  democratic  ideas  prevailed  elsewhere  in  Europe,  there 
was  a  republic  at  Novgorod  the  Great,  that  resisted  the 
encroachments  of  the  Tartars  and  the  Mongols,  and  stood 
alone,  an  ideal  government  "  of  the  people,  by  the  people, 
for  the  people  ;  "  but  it  perished  from  the  earth.  Wallace 
tells  the  fascinating  story. 


284 


RUSSIA: 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE    HOLY   CITY   OF   MOSCOW. 

The  Legal  Capital  as  well  as  the  Commercial  Metropolis  of  Russia. — 
The  Most  Interesting  Place  in  Europe. — Buildings  and  Customs 
Inherited  from  the  Asiatic  Founders. — Over  Five  Hundred  Gilded 
Domes.— The  Great  Hotel  and  Strangers'  Market.— An  Immense 
Foundlings'  Home. — The  Results  of  Napoleon's  Invasion. 

THE  Russians,  who  are  usually  the  last  of  all  the  peoples 
of  Europe  to  adopt  the  improvements  of  modern  civilization, 
were,  however,  one  of 
the  first  to  use  the 
mode  of  communica- 
tion by  railway,  which 
was  owing  in  a  great 
degree  to  the  military 
necessity  of  having 
means  of  easy  and  A  KIBITKA. 

rapid  communication  from  one  part  of  the  vast  empire  to 
another  for  the  movement  of  troops ;  and  otherwise  to  the 
cheapness  and  superiority  of  their  iron,  which,  as  all  know,  is 
the  best  that  is  produced  in  the  world.  But  twenty-five  years 
ago  it  required  from  ninety  to  a  hundred  hours  to  make  the 
journey  from  Petersburg  to  Moscow,  a  thousand  carts  known 
as  "  kibitkas,"  drawn  by  two,  three,  four,  or  even  five  horses 
abreast,  being  constantly  employed  in  going  back  and  forth, 
and  in  winter  a  thousand  sledges,  which  covered  the  distance 
often  in  twenty-four  hours,  with  relays  of  horses.  It  was 
much  more  comfortable  travelling  in  winter  than  in  summer, 
for  the  jolting  of  the  carts  over  the  roads  was  terrible  to  ten- 
der bones,  while  the  motion  of  the  sledges  was  delightful, 
and  there  were  always  plenty  of  furs  for  warmth. 

Now  the  trip  is  made  in  fourteen  hours.     The  train  I  took 


THE  HOLY  CITY  OF  MOSCOW. 


285 


left  Petersburg  at  eight  in  the  evening,  and  rolled  into  Mos- 
cow at  ten  the  next  morning.  The  cars  run  slowly  and  cau- 
tiously, making  not  more  than  fifteen  or  eighteen  miles  an 
hour,  and  stopping  every  few  moments  at  stations  or  section- 
houses,  and  sometimes  at  bridges,  for  the  Russian  engineers 
know  there  is  danger  everywhere,  and  if  a  fatal  accident 
occurs  they  are  punished  without  mercy. 

It  was  a  beautiful  night,  the  sun  did  not  set  till  nearly 
nine  o'clock,  and  the  twilight  lasted  fully  two  hours  longer. 
At  ten  o'clock  we  could  easily  see  to  read  by  the  car  win- 
dows, and  there  was  no  chance  for  the  darkness  to  gather, 
as  a  brilliant  moon  came  up  that  showed  us  very  plainly  the 
face  of  the  landscape.  The  country  is  desolate,  like  all 
other  portions  of  northern  Russia,  either  sandy  or  swampy, 
with  clumps  of  fir,  alder,  and  willow  trees.  Sometimes  there 
were  thick  and  extensive  forests,  and  as  we  drew  nearer 
Moscow,  great  plains  that  seemed  more  fertile  than  the 
northern  land  and  showed  signs  of  assiduous  cultivation. 

There  are  but  two  towns  along  this,  the  principal  line  of 
railroad  in  Russia.  Cities  of  any  size  are  scarce  throughout 
the  entire  empire — there  are  only  eleven  with  more  than 
50,000  inhabitants  in  all  Russia — but  we  were  in  the  most 
densely  populated  portion,  and  expected  to  see  some  of 
them.  There  were  stations  at  frequent  intervals,  cheap- 
looking  wooden  buildings,  and  every  time  the  train  stopped 
we  would  be  awakened  by  loud  cries  of  "  Tchai  !  tchai !  " 
(tea),  from  boys  or  men  who  peddled  the  boiling  liquor  in 
glasses,  with  slices  of  lemon  floating  on  the  top  and  several 
lumps  of  sugar  at  the  bottom.  There  is  no  hour  of  day  or 
night  that  a  Russian  will  not  take  a  glass  of  hot  tea.  It  is 
consumed  more  frequently  than  beer  in  Germany,  and  is 
much  more  palatable  and  refreshing  than  either  beer,  brandy, 
or  wine. 

At  several  of  these  stations  we  noticed  tramways  or 
branch  railroads,  which  lead  to  the  towns,  situated  from  two 
to  twenty  miles  from  the  depot  on  the  main  line.  This 
road  was  constructed  by  Mr,  Winans  of  Baltimore,  who  built 


286 


RUSSIA  : 


improve- 


many  other  lines  in  Russia,  and  amassed  an  enormous  for- 
tune which  he  is  now  enjoying  in  England.  When  the  project 
was  under  discussion,  there  was  an  active  rivalry  among  the 
towns  that  lay  along  the  route  between  the  two  great 
cities  as  to  which  should  have  the  benefit  of  the 
ment,  for  the  road  could 
not  pass  through  all  of 
them  without  having  as 
many  coils  as  a  serpent. 
The  Minister  of  Public 
Works,  worn  out  with 
the  problem  of  satisfy- 
ing all  the  princes  and 
nobles  whose  property 
interests  were  involved, 
went  to  the  Czar  and 
laid  the  case  beforehim, 
asking  for  orders. 

"  Give  me  the  map," 
exclaimed  his  Majesty. 

The  map  was 
brought,  and  taking  a 
ruler  that  lay  on  his 
table,  he  drew  a  direct 
line  from  Petersburg 
to  Moscow.  Then,  re- 
turning the  map  to  the 
minister,  he  said, 

"  Build  the  line  thus, 
no  matter  whom  it 
helps  or  hurts;"  and  it  was  so  constructed,  the  longest 
piece  of  straight  track  in  the  world,  there  being  but  few 
small  curves,  necessitated  by  the  topography  of  the  country, 
and  very  slight  grades  the  entire  distance. 

The  entry  to  "  Our  Holy  Mother  Moscow,"  as  the  pious 
Russians  call  it,  is  not  so  interesting  as  the  approach  to 
Petersburg ;  and  the  first  sight  of  the  city  from  the  car-win- 


ANCIENT  TILE  STOVE   IN  THE 
KREMLIN. 


THE  HOLY  CITY  OF  MOSCOW. 


287 


dows  is  neither  impressive  nor  pleasing ;  but  to  the  eyes  of 
the  Russian,  it  is  beautiful,  noble,  and  sacred.  Moscow  to 
the  Muscovite  is  what  Rome  is  to  the  Catholic,  Jerusalem  to 
the  Jew,  and  Mecca  to  the  Mussulman — the  seat  of  all  that 
is  sacred,  the  home  of  the  Church  and  the  State ;  for  none 
but  the  residents  of  Petersburg  are  satisfied  with  the  loca- 
tion of  the  government  there,  and  the  remainder  still  regard 
Moscow  as  the  capital  of  the  empire,  which  it  legally  is. 
There  is  scarcely  a  foot  of  ground  that  is  not  historic  and 
holy,  for  Moscow  is  more  than  a  thousand  years  old  as  it 
stands,  and  there  was  another  city  on  its  site  whose  origin 
is  lost  in  the  mists  of  fable. 

The  present  Moscow  was  founded  in  the  year  882  by  Oleg, 
the  brother-in-law  of  Rurik,  the  Emperor  of  the  North,  but 
fires  and  decay  have  caused  most  of  the  original  structures 
to  be  replaced  from  time  to  time  by  new  ones.  The  original 
Kremlin  was  built  by  Daniel,  the  Duke  of  Moscow,  the  son 
of  the  famous  Alexander  Nevski,  the  most  conspicuous  saint 
in  the  Russian  calendar ;  but  it  was  not  recognized  as  the 
seat  of  the  government  till  the  time  of  Ivan  I.,  who  brought 
his  throne  there  from  Kiev  in  1328.  Fifty  years  later  the 
holy  city  was  captured  by  the  Golden  Horde,  and  remained 
during  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries  under  the  rule 
of  the  Tartar  Khans,  who  have  left  their  impress  upon  every- 
thing, the  customs,  the  architecture,  the  methods  of  the 
place,  and  particularly  in  the  gorgeous  coloring,  the  barbaric 
splendor  of  the  palaces,  and  the  ceremonials  that  take  place 
in  them. 

Moscow  is  as  different  from  Petersburg  as  Constantinople 
or  Cairo  is  from  Chicago  or  New  York,  or  a  mining  town  in 
the  mountains  of  Colorado  from  a  country  village  in  Eng- 
land. Four  hundred  years  ago  the  ambassador  sent  by  the 
Emperor  Maximilian  to  negotiate  for  the  opening  of  trade 
with  Moscow  wrote  a  description  of  the  city,  which  still  holds 
good  to-day.  The  buildings,  the  streets,  and  the  customs 
have  suffered  little  change  by  the  advance  of  time.  There 
is  more  of  Asia  there  than  of  Europe  ;  and  while  Petersburg 


288  RUSSIA: 

was  built  in  imitation  of  Paris  and  Berlin,  Moscow  still 
retains  its  likeness  to  the  Asiatic  towns  of  the  time  of  Christ. 
In  the  central  portions  there  has  absolutely  been  no  change 
for  five  centuries,  and  everything  stands  as  it  did  in  the  time 
of  Ivan  the  Terrible  ;  but  in  the  outskirts,  since  the  invasion 
of  Napoleon,  there  has  been  a  great  deal  of  improvement, 
and  Moscow  is  now  the  largest  manufacturing  centre  in 
Russia,  and  one  of  the  largest  in  Europe. 

The  railway  station  is  not  so  handsome  as  those  in  Peters- 
burg or  other  continental  cities,  and  the   ride  to  the  hotel  is 


OUTSIDE  OF  THE  KREMLIN. 

through  narrow  and  crooked  streets,  wretchedly  paved,  and 
seeming  worse  than  they  really  are,  because  of  the  contrast 
to  the  wide  and  handsome  thoroughfares  of  Petersburg, 
which  we  had  just  left.  Miserable  hovels  stand  side  by  side 
with  splendid  palaces  ;  there  is  a  stretch  of  smooth  pave- 
ment, and  then  a  plunge  into  an  ocean  of  mud  or  a  desert  of 
dust.  Under  the  shadow  of  the  finest  churches  in  this  city 
of  amazing  contrasts  are  dens  for  the  practice  of  the  most 
degrading  vices ;  and  in  front  of  the  most  extensive  and 
modern  stores  will  be  found  clusters  of  filthy  and  vermin- 
covered  beggars  and  pedlers. 

Moscow  has  a  population  of  between  seven  and  eight  hun- 
dred thousand  people;  the  belt  railroad  which  encircles  the 


THE  HOLY  CITY  OF  MOSCOW. 


289 


city  is  twenty  four  miles  long ;  and  the  shortest  route  by 
tramway,  from  one  side  of  it  to  the  other,  is  nine  miles. 
Within  its  limits  are  to  be  found  nine  cathedrals,  484 
churches,  and  twenty-two  monasteries  and  convents.  From 
the  top  of  Sparrow  Hills,  where  Napoleon  caught  his  first 
view  of  the  place — and  it  is  one  of  the  grandest  and  most 
fascinating  spectacles  in  the  world — 329  golden  domes  can 
be  counted,  everyone  of  them  glistening  in  the  sun.  Pious 
people  often  leave  legacies  to  pay  the  cost  of  re-gilding  the 
dome  of  their  favorite  church.  Besides  these  gilded  domes 
there  are  numerous  others,  painted  blue,  .green,  orange,  and 
all  the  other  tints  known  to  paint  manufacturers,  and  a  per- 
fect forest  of  spires,  towers,  pinnacles,  and  minarets.  It  is  a 
city  of  bulbous  roofs,  most  of  them  being  of  the  Byzantine 
order,  or  the  shape  of  inverted  turnips. 

The  Kremlin,  the  mightiest  citadel  in  the  world,  with  its 
frowning  battlements,  covered  with  the  rust  and  lichens 
of  centuries,  is  the  focus  from  which  everything  radiates,  and 
around  it  clusters  this  forest  of  golden  domes  and  spires 
rising  from  an  ocean  of  green  and  blue-roofed  houses, 
grotesque  cupolas  and  minarets,  all  forming  a  bewildering 
mass  of  oriental  and  barbaric  splendors  which  cannot  be 
found  anywhere  else.  The  Sparrow  Hills,  from  which  all 
this  can  best  be  seen,  are  a  group  that  rise  just  beyond  the 
limits  of  the  city,  and  are  separated  therefrom  by  the  Volga 
River.  At  the  summit,  and  the  crest  of  the  bank,  which  rises 
abruptly  from  the  river's  bed 'to  the  heighth  of  550  or  600 
feet,  is  a  hotel  and  pavilion  much  resorted  to  by  the  people 
of  Moscow.  It  is  called  the  Hill  of  Salutation,  and  it  was 
there  that  the  advance-guard  of  the  French  army  in  1812  got 
their  first  glimpse  of  the  metropolis  they  had  come  to  loot. 
"  Moscow  !  Moscow  ! "  they  cried ;  and  the  shout  was  carried 
along  through  the  entire  army  of  700,000  men,  worn  and 
weary  with  their  long  march  over  the  desolate  plains.  It 
was  here,  too,  that  Napoleon  came,  and  looking  over  the 
sacred  capital  of  the  Russians,  waved  his  hands  above  it 
and  said  : 

'9 


290 


RUSSIA: 


11  Soldiers  of  France,  all  this  is  yours  !  " 

The  Hill  of  Salutation  is  reached  either  by  little  steamers 
that  ply  along  the  river  from  docks  at  the  foot  of  the  sev- 
eral bridges,  or  by  a  disreputable  carriage-road  that  leads 
through  the  newer  portion  of  the  city, — that  part  destroyed 
when  the  French  came, — under  the  walls  of  large  factories 
and  larger  military  barracks,  past  palaces  and  monasteries, 
some  of  which  are  benevolent  institutions,  to  a  village  of 
wooden  shanties,  cafe's,  concert-halls,  and  drinking-places 
where  the  common  people  gather  on  days  of  festival. 


ON   THE   MARCH   TO    SIBERIA. 

When  the  French  approached  the  city,  the  people  fled, 
leaving  nothing  behind  them  they  could  carry;  but  one  man 
remained  in  nearly  every  house  with  orders  to  set  it  on  fire 
before  he  came  away.  Thus  began  one  of  the  most  serious 
conflagrations  of  modern  times,  which  was  hastened  and  ag- 
gravated by  the  release  of  three  thousand  prisoners  mad- 
dened by  the  liquor  they  found  in  the  deserted  saloons.  In 
the  public  buildings  bombs  and  barrels  of  powder  were  de- 
posited to  complete  the  destruction  of  the  place,  so  that  the 


THE  HOLY  CITY  OF  MOSCOW.  29! 

French  army,  when  it  finally  reached  the  destination  it 
had  marched  so  far  and  fought  so  long  for,  was  turned  into 
a  monstrous  fire-corps,  endeavoring  to  save  what  it  had 
come  to  destroy. 

"  Who  would  have  thought  that  a  nation  would  ruin  its 
own  capital  ? "  said  Napoleon,  when  he  viewed  the  de'bris. 

The  temporary  prisons  for  Russian  exiles  are  on  the 
Sparrow  Hills.  Here  those  who  are  condemned  to  banish- 
ment, and  imprisonment  in  the  mines,  are  kept  until  the 
trains  are  organized  for  Siberia.  It  is  the  rendezvous  for 
the  condemned  from  all  of  the  western  provinces,  and  from 
these  summits  they  have  their  last  view  of  the  Holy  City. 
They  go  by  rail  and  river  for  twelve  hundred  miles,  and 
then  on  foot,  carrying  four  pounds  weight  upon  each  leg 
as  they  march,  murderers,  patriots,  thieves,  and  conspirators 
chained  together.  It  is  said  that  of  the  60,000  that  leave 
Moscow  every  year  5,000  die  on  the  road,  of  hunger,  dis- 
ease, and  exhaustion.  If  an  exile  is  rich  enough  he  may  pay 
the  expense  of  the  transportation  of  himself  and  his  four 
guards  by  post-carriage ;  and  many  of  them  go  that  way, 
with  comparative  comfort. 

Moscow  is  really  a  collection  of  several  towns,  instead  of 
a  single  one.  The  Kremlin,  or  the  Citadel,  stands  on  an 
eminence  in  the  centre,  and  all  the  chief  streets  radiate 
around,  or  start  from  it.  There  is  the'disreputable  quarter 
known  as  the  Sloboda,  a  term  similar  to  the  French  word 
Faubourg,  meaning  literally  a  suburb,  now  the  outlying  por- 
tion of  the  city,  swarming  with  dogs,  goats,  children,  and 
poultry.  Here  the  Jews  live,  and  most  of  the  poorer  classes  ; 
and  here  have  been  erected  most  of  the  manufactories 
which  give  the  city  its  wealth  and  commercial  impor- 
tance. Moscow  is  really  the  railway  centre  and  the  in- 
dustrial metropolis  of  the  empire,  and  produces  annually 
more  manufactured  goods  than  all  the  rest  of  Russia  com- 
bined, valued  at  several  hundred  million  dollars.  There  are 
over  700  factories  within  the  city  limits,  giving  employment  to 
between  two  and  three  hundred  thousand  men  and  women,  so 


292 


RUSSIA  : 


that  nearly  one-half  the  entire  population  are  engaged  in  me- 
chanical industry.  There  are  over  one  hundred  silk,  cotton, 
and  woollen  mills,  and  as  many  more  establishments  for  the 
production  and  manufacture  of  wearing  apparel.  It  has 
also  a  large  iron  industry,  together  with  a  varied  line  of 
other  fabrications  in  metal,  wood,  and  earth. 

Next  comes  the  Bielgorod,  or  "  White  Town,"  so  called 
from  the  fact  that  the  Tartars  compelled  the  Russians 
proper  to  reside  there  during  their  occupation  of  the  city  for 
two  hundred  years.  This  has  therefore  become  the  favored 
residence  quarter,  and  there  the  finest  houses  may  be  found. 


THEATRE    AT   MOSCOW. 

Then  there  is  the  Khitaigorod,  or  "  Chinese  town,"  which 
surrounds  the  Kremlin,  and  is  enclosed  within  immense 
walls  that  have  stood  for  several  centuries.  It  is  curious 
that  the  name  "  Chinese  town  "  should  so  persistently  attach 
itself  to  a  section  of  the  city  in  which  no  Chinese  are  living 
or  have  ever  lived,  but  it  is  explained  by  the  fact  that  the 
wall  which  encloses  it  was  built  by  the  Mongols  during  their 
occupation,  and  the  word  Khitai  means  Cathay. 

Through  a  gate  in  this  Mongol  wall  half  the  population 
pass  each  day.  It  is  like  London  bridge,  the«  most  con- 
venient thoroughfare  between  the  residence  and  manufac- 
turing portions  of  the  city  and  the  mercantile  or  shopping 
centres.  Beside  the  gate  is  a  curious  old  church,  with  a  lot 


THE  HOLY  CITY  OF  MOSCOW. 


293 


of  towers  that  look  like  inverted  pine-apples,  having  a  rough 
surface,  and  painted  in  the  most  conspicuous  variety  of 
colors.  This  is  the  chapel  of  Iverskaya  Chasovnia — the 
Iberian  Madonna,  an  Icon  brought  from  Mount  Athos  hun- 
dreds of  years  ago,  and  the  patron  saint  and  the  palladium 
of  Moscow.  The  image  is  supposed  to  have  miraculous 
powers,  and  is  appealed  to  in  times  of  distress,  sickness,  and 
danger. 

When  the  French  army, was  approaching  Moscow  in  1812, 
the  people  begged  the  Governor-General  to  lead  them  out 
against  the  host,  with  the  Iberian  Icon  in  advance.  At  all 
hours  of  the  day  and  most  of  the  night — for  the  chapel  is 
always  open,  its  doors  have  not  been  closed  for  centuries 
— hundreds  of  people  can  be  found  kneeling  upon  the  stone 
floors.  At  the  gate  is  a  large  contribution-box  and  he  is  a 
very  poor  Russian  who  does  not  drop  in  a  copeck,  at  least, 
for  the  propitiation  of  the  Virgin.  The  shrine  collects  in 
this  way  alone  many  thousands  of  dollars  every  year,  besides 
rich  gifts  made  by  those  who  believe  themselves  to  have 
been  saved  from  death,  protected  from  danger,  or  relieved 
from  distress  by  the  intervention  of  the  Virgin. 

The  Czar  always  visits  the  chapel  when  he  is  in  Moscow, 
and  never  leaves  without  a  generous  gift  to  its  coffers.  The 
Virgin  keeps  a  carriage  and  four  horses,  in  which  the  image 
is  carried  to  houses  about  the  city,  to  comfort  the  sick  and 
the  dying,  for  a  large  fee.  If  a  man  is  building  a  house, 
the  Icon  can  be  obtained  to  sanctify  it  by  the  payment  of  a 
sum  of  money  to  the  priests,  and  is  taken  in  the  carriage  to 
the  place,  when  some  mummery  is  gone  through  with.  It  is 
also  taken  to  weddings,  and  to  women  in  confinement,  and  is 
always  willing  to  lend  its  aid  and  give  its  blessing  on  all 
occasions  for  the  payment  of  a  price.  The  case  in  which 
the  image  is  kept  is  richly  decorated  with  jewels  ;  and  many 
years  ago  a  princess,  who  was  "envious  of  the  largest  of  the 
Virgin's  diamonds,  seized  it  with  her  teeth  when  she  was 
pretending  to  kiss  the  frame,  and  carried  the  jewel  away 


294 


in  her  mouth.  She  was  detected,  however,  and  sent  to  Siberia 
for  life. 

Under  the  shadow  of  this  chapel,  the  tourist  enters  the 
principal  shopping  street,  which  is  crowded  all  day  and  most 
of  the  night  with'  throngs  of  people,  representing  almost 
every  nation  under  the  sun.  The  shouts  of  the  drosky 
drivers  and  the  rattle  of  the  wheels  over  the  cobble-stone 
pavement  almost  deafen  you,  and  they  are  assisted  in 
making  the  place  a  bedlam  by  hundreds  of  fruit  and  toy 
venders,  who  cry  the 
merits  of  their  wares  in 
stentorian  tones. 

This  street  is  lined 
with  the  best  shops, 
cafe's,  and  hotels  chief  of 
which  is  the  Slavinsky 
Bazaar,  not  a  shop,  as 
the  name  would  signify, 
but  an  hotel  famous  all 
over  Europe.  It  is  very 
large,  capable  of  ac- 
commodating a  thou- 
sand people,  and  its 
restaurant  is  the  re- 

CHAPEL  OF  TVERSKAYA  CHASOVNIA. 

sort   of  the  merchants 

of  the  city  at  noon-time  and  during  the  evening  for  food  and 
drinks.  You  enter  under  & porte  cocker e  to  a  wide  hall,  where 
a  resplendent  concierge  or  porter  greets  you  in  almost  any 
language  under  the  sun,  and  from  long  experience  he  is 
enabled  to  determine  by  your  looks  which  tongue  to  use. 
He  can  speak  not  only  the  European  languages,  English, 
French,  German,  and  Italian,  but  Turkish,  Greek,  Armenian, 
Arabic,  Hindostanee,  and  I  do  not  know  but  Chinese, 
Japanese.  Siamese,  and  many  others.  It  is  the  proud  boast 
of  this  polyglotic  fellow,  that  no  guest  has  ever  arrived  at  the 
hotel  during  the  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  he  has  been  em- 


THE  HOLY  CITY  OF  MOSCOW.  2g$ 

ployed  there,  whom  he  could  not  address  in  the  language  of 
the  country  he  came  from. 

The  office,  or  bureau,  as  they  call  it,  of  this  remarkable 
hotel,  looks  like  the  counting-house  of  a  large  mercantile 
establishment,  for  behind  the  glass  partitions  are  a  dozen  or 
fifteen  clerks  and  book-keepers,  all  busy  from  morning  till 
night,  but  what  they  are  doing  no  one  knows.  All  bills  are 
rendered  every  morning.  You  pay  one  clerk  for  your  room 
and  another  for  your  meals  ;  while  the  system  of  accounts  is 


GENERAL  VIEW  OF  MOSCOW. 

so  complicated  that  a  man  has  to  live  there  a  month  be- 
fore he  can  "get  the  hang  "  of  the  place.  The  servants  and 
porters  are  dressed  in  the  Russian  costume,  with  long  black 
surtouts,  high-top  boots,  and  turbans  of  astrakan  fur,  with 
peacock  feathers,  to  indicate  their  respective  rank. 

The  restaurant  is  a  very  large  room,  or  series  of  large 
rooms,  where  a  thousand  people  can  be  fed  at  a  time  ;  and 
they  seemed  to  be  continually  crowded  with  all  sorts  and 
conditions  of  men  and  women.  The  central  room,  under  a 
dome,  has  a  large  fountain  and  pond  of  water  in  the  centre, 
which  every  morning  is  filled  with  live  fish  from  the  market. 


296 


RUSSIA : 


If  you  want  a  fish  for  breakfast  or  dinner,  you  sit  down  at 
one  of  the  tables,  indicate  your  wish  to  the  white-robed 
waiter,  and  then  accompany  him  to  the  fountain.  He  takes 
a  hand  net,  dips  it  into  the  water,  fetches  up  a  cluster  of 
fish  of  different  kinds  and  sizes,  and  takes  from  the  lot  which- 
ever you  indicate.  The  fish  is  then  carried  to  the  kitchen 
on  a  silver  tray,  and  ten  or  fifteen  minutes  after  is  served  hot 
and  savory  before  you. 

Beyond  the  Slavinsky  Bazaar  is  the  Gostinnoi  Dvor,  or 
strangers'  market,  a  peculiarity  of  every  Russian  city,  and 
like  that  of  Petersburg  which  I  have  described,  a  collection 


ART  GALLERY  AT  MOSCOW. 

of  shops  for  retail  trading.  There  are  several,  all  like  the 
Palais  Royal  of  Paris,  full  of  small  booths  about  twenty 
feet  square,  at  which  is  sold  everything  the  people  care  to 
purchase  in  small  lots,  and,  as  is  the  case  in  Paris,  every- 
thing in  stock  is  kept  in  the  window.  If  you  do  not  see 
what  you  want  from  the  sidewalk,  there  is  no  use  in  enter- 
ing the  door ;  you  must  pass  along  till  you  find  it.  The  main 
Gostinnoi  Dvor  of  Moscow  has  recently  been  torn  down, 
and  the  occupants  accommodated  in  wooden  sheds  in  the 
parade-ground  in  front  of  the  Kremlin,  till  the  splendid  new 
Arcade  now  in  process  of  erection  can  be  completed. 

The  price  of  nothing  is  fixed.  Every  purchase  is  the  re- 
sult of  a  negotiation.  The  merchant,  usually  a  woman, 
commences  by  asking  two  or  three  times  the  worth  of  the 


THE  HOLY  CITY  OF  MOSCOW. 


297 


article,  expecting  you  will  "  Jew  "  her  down,  and  if  you 
show  no  disposition  to  do  so,  she  will  ask :  "  What  will  your 
Lordship  give  for  it,"  intending  that  the  implied  mistake  in 
the  title  will  have  a  favorable  result.  Some  goods  are  sold 
for  twice  their  value,  and  others  for  less  than  they  are  worth. 
The  Muscovite  merchant  will  rather  sell  at  a  loss  than 
not  sell  at  all,  but  generally  manages  to  make  a  pretty  good 
average  of  profit.  One  of  the  handsomest  productions  of 
Moscow  is  gold  and  silver  cloth  brocade,  made  of  the  wire 
bullion,  spun  as  fine  as  silk.  It  is  of  this  material  that  the 
vestments  of  the  priests  are  made,  and  with  it  much  of  the 
furniture  in  fine  houses  is  upholstered.  At  the  shops  in  the 
Gostinnoi  Dvor  it  can  be  obtained  at  about  the  price  of  or- 
dinary silk  or  satin,  costing  of  course  higher  prices  when 
the  wire  is  heavy. 

About  half  the  merchants  seem  to  be  engaged  in  the  sale 
of  articles  and  implements  for  devotion.  There  is  nearly 
a  mile  of  shops  where  nothing  but  Icons  are  exposed  for 
sale,  with  the  lamps  that  always  burn  below  them  in  the 
houses.  The  people  all  cheat  and  lie,  but  they  are  always 
good-natured  about  it,  and  when  detected  in  a  falsehood, 
blush  as  innocently  as  if  they  had  never  done  such  a  thing 
before  in  their  lives.  They  are  very  quick  of  perception, 
too.  If  you  can  manage  to  convey  one-fourth  of  an  idea  to 
them,  they  will  furnish  the  other  three-fourths  from  intuition 
instantly. 

Although  stealing  and  swindling  is  the  habit  of  the  peo- 
ple, there  are  certain  things  that  are  sacred  from  it.  No 
Russian,  it  is  claimed,  ever  commits  a  burglary  or  picks  a 
pocket.  He  will  not  enter  an  unoccupied  house  for  pur- 
poses of  stealing,  and  the  rooms  of  the  guests  at  hotels  and 
lodging-houses  are  very  seldom  robbed ;  but  if  you  lay  your 
purse  down  for  a  moment,  you  are  likely  never  to  see  it 
again  ;  or  if  your  overcoat  or  any  article  is  left  in  a  carriage, 
you  need  make  no  inquiries.  It  has  gone  beyond  recovery. 
The  banks  are  never  robbed,  nor  the  tills  in  the  shops,  nor 
the  tables  of  the  money-changers ;  but  if  you  set  your  um- 


298 


RUSSIA: 


brella  down,  or  your  shawl  is  carelessly  dropped,  or  any 
other  of  your  possessions  are  left  in  public  places  and  not 
carefully  guarded,  they  are  considered  common  property,  and 
belong  to  him  who  seizes  them  first.  Strangers  are  followed 
about  the  city  by  men  and  boys,  and  often  women,  to 
prey  upon  their  carelessness,  or  ignorance  of  these  customs. 

Most  of  these  goods  find  their  way  to  the  Thieves'  market, 
which  is  maintained  in  Moscow  as  in  Petersburg,  and  in 
even  larger  proportions,  for  the  people  of  Petersburg  are 
said  to  be  the  more  honest.  Everything  offered  for  sale  is 
supposed  to  have  been  stolen,  but,  as  in  Petersburg,  the 
proprietors  of  the  shops  are  expected  to  keep  the  articles 
for  redemption  by  the  owner  for  thirty  days.  The  stocks  of 
goods  comprise  every  conceivable  article  except  food.  The 
Thieves'  market  is  kept  in  what  is  known  as  the  Hair  Park, 
where  years  ago  the  barbers  had  their  stands  and  the  peo- 
ple, who  never  shave,  used  to  resort  to  have  their  hair  cut. 

The  Foundlings'  Home  in  Moscow  is  almost  as  large  as 
the  similar  institution  in  Petersburg,  and  the  dimensions  of 
the  building  may  be  judged  by  the  fact  that  it  has  2228 
windows.  The  foundlings  are  supported  by  the  govern- 
ment, from  twenty  to  thirty  thousand  of  them,  receiving  a 
subsidy  of  $900,000  a  year,  and  all  the  proceeds  from  the  sale 
of  playing-cards,  which  is  a  government  monopoly.  From 
two  to  five  thousand  children  are  admitted  to  its  care  and 
sheltered,  annually. 

One  of  the  finest  churches  in  the  world  stands  in  Moscow, 
— the  church  of  the  Saviour, — erected  to  commemorate  the 
overthrow  of  Napoleon.  The  foundations  were  laid  in  1815, 
but  the  interior  was  not  completed  till  1882,  the  entire  struct- 
ure costing  $40,000,000,  or  nearly  three  times  as  much  as 
the  Capitol  at  Washington.  It  resembles  St.  Isaac's  at 
Petersburg  in  form  and  design,  being  impressively  simple, 
of  the  purest  Greek  architecture,  and  built  of  white  marble, 
all  the  materials  being  imported  from  Italy.  The  interior  is 
grand  and  beautiful,  being  finished  in  the  rare  Siberian 
stones,  malachite,  lapis-lazuli,  jasper,  and  porphyry.  The 


THE  HOLY  CITY  OF  MOSCOW.  299 

entire  floor  is  of  jasper,  while  the  ceilings  and  walls  are 
covered  with  pictures  in  mosaic  or  distemper. 

It  was  at  first  proposed  to  erect  this  temple  on  Sparrow 
Hills,  and  it  was  to  be  the  largest  and  finest  building  in 
the  world — 700  feet  high,  150  feet  higher  than  the  Wash- 
ington Monument — and  to  stand  upon  the  spot  where  Na- 
poleon first  had  a  view  of  the  city.  Work  was  commenced 
upon  it,  and  four  million  roubles  had  been  spent,  when 
the  Emperor  suspected  robbery,  and  had  an  investigation, 
which  resulted  in  the  banishment  to  Siberia,  of  the  arch- 
itect, the  contractors,  and  almost  everyone  who  had  been  en- 
gaged on  the  work  and  the  confiscation  of  their  property 
for  the  benefit  of  the  building-fund.  This  was  followed  by 
a  change  of  location  and  a  modification  of  the  plans. 

The  statistics  that  are  given  of  the  cost  of  construction 
are  amazing.  The  building  covers  73,000  square  feet  of 
ground,  and  the  top  of  the  cross  that  surmounts  the  dome 
is  340  feet  from  the  ground,  or  twelve  feet  lower  than  the 
Goddess  of  Liberty  at  the  top  of  the  capitol  at  Washington. 
The  central  dome,  like  all  other  such  structures  in  Russia,  is 
gilded,  and  $1,200,000  worth  of  bullion  was  used  to  do  the 
work.  The  gold-leaf  is  laid  upon  copper.  There  are  four 
copper  cupolas,  and  the  cost  of  gilding  them  was  $860,000. 
The  amount  of  gold  bullion  in  the  interior,  for  the  mosaics 
and  the  decoration  of  the  Ikon-astas  or  altar,  was  $1.300,000. 
All  the  vessels  used  by  the  priests  in  celebrating  mass  are 
of  solid  gold,  and  exquisite  workmanship.  The  jasper  in 
the  floor  and  the  walls  cost  very  nearly  as  much  ;  while  it  is 
said  that*  the  malachite  and  lapis-lazuli  used  could  not  be 
replaced  for  any  money,  having  come  from  the  government 
quarries  in  Siberia,  and  representing  over  half  a  century  of 
labor  in  taking  them  from  the  quarries  to  Moscow  in  the 
rough  state.  The  value  of  this  material  does  not  enter  into 
the  cost  of  the  church  ;  only  the  expense  of  dressing  and 
transporting  it. 

The  interior  is  in  the  form  of  a  Greek  cross,  with  even 
arms,  220  feet  in  length.  There  are  thirty-six  windows 


RUSSIA: 

of  stained  glass  ninety  feet  high.  There  are  1240  chande- 
liers, with  38,000  wax  candles,  for  the  Russians  will  not  use 
gas  in  their  churches.  All  these  candles  were  lighted  at  the 
service  held  on  the  day  of  the  Emperor's  coronation.  The 
immense  sums  expended  upon  this  church  were  acquired 
by  the  voluntary  offerings  from  a  poverty-stricken  people, 
who  are  without  schools,  or  even  the  comforts  of  life,  but  have 
over  500  other  churches  within  sight  of  the  dome. 

One  of  the  other  interesting  churches  in  Moscow  is  the 
Mohammedan  mosque  where  the  descendants  of  the  old 
Tartar  residents  still  worship.  It  is  a  very  large  structure, 
but  rather  shabby  in  appearance.  Service  is  held  within  its 
walls  almost  continuously. 


WITHIN  THE  MIGHTY  KREMLIN. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

WITHIN    THE   MIGHTY    KREMLIN. 

The  Citadel  that  Shelters  the  Throne  of  Russia.— Its  Grandeur  and 
Historical  Associations. — A  Palace  that  is  the  Finest  in  the  World. — 
Hundreds  of  Millions  of  Dollars  Worth  of  Gold  and  Silver  and 
Gems. — The  Palace  of  the  Holy  Synod  with  its  Jewels,  and  the 
Treasury  with  its  Captured  Crowns  and  Thrones. — Churches  in  the 
Kremlin. 

WHO  has  not  heard  of  the  mighty  Kremlin,  the  great 
fortress  that  has  stood  for  a  thousand  years,  and  sheltered 
for  so  many  centuries  the  throne  and  the  treasures  of  the 
Russian  Empire  ?  The  word  means  "  citadel  "  in  the  Tartar 
tongue  ;  and  each  of  the  old  Russian  towns  has  its  Kremlin  : 
but  what  the  Acropolis  was  to  Athens,  the  Coliseum  to 
Rome,  the  Alhambra  to  Spain,  the  Doge's  Palace  to  Venice, 
the  Bastile  to  Paris,  and  the  Tower  to  London,  the  Kremlin  is 
to  the  holy  city  of  Russia — the  fortress  that  encloses  and 
protects  its  capital ;  not  only  the  legal  residence  of  the  Czar, 
but  the  Vatican  of  the  Russian  Church.  It  stands  upon  an 
eminence,  a  city  within  a  city,  surrounded  on  three  sides  by 
the  River  Volga,  and  enclosed  within  a  wall  that  is  nearly  a 
mile  and  a  half  long. 

The  group  of  buildings  within  the  walls  consists  of  the 
ancient  palace  of  the  Czar,  the  treasury,  the  palace  of  the 
Holy  Synod,  two  monasteries,  the  great  tower  of  Ivan,  the 
Church  of  the  Assumption,  in  which  the  Czars  must  be 
crowned,  the  Church  of  the  Annunciation  in  which  they  must 
be  baptised  and  married,  and  the  Church  of  St.  Michael,  in 
which  their  royal  bones,  until  the  last  century,  were  laid. 
There  are  also  barracks  for  soldiers,  dormitories  for  priests, 
and  several  buildings  of  minor  importance — a  gorgeous  cluster 


3O2 


RUSSTA  : 


of  magnificence  and  decay,  every  foot  of  ground  having  its 
history,  every  wall  and  window  its  romance,  and  every  room  : 
its  tragedy. 

The  Kremlin  is  entered  by  six  great  gates,  the  most 
famous  of  which  is  "the  Gate  of  the  Redeemer."  Without 
the  walls,  across  a  wide  parade-ground,  called  the  Krasnoi 
Ploshtshacl,  or  Red  Square,  is  the  famous  church  of  St. 
Basil  the  Idiot,  known  throughout  the  world  as  "  the  most 
striking  of  architectural  monstrosities."  It  was  erected  in 
the  fifteenth  century  by  the  order  of  Ivan  the  Terrible  to  ap- 
pease the  wrath  of  the  Almighty  and  the  Saints  for  the  mur- 


THE  KREMLIN. 


der  of  his  son  and  the  heir  to  the  throne,  in  a  fit  of  passion. 
Ivan  employed  an  Italian  architect  to  make  the  plans,  and 
commanded  him  to  construct  a  church  unlike  any  that  had 
ever  existed,  the  cost  not  to  be  taken  into  consideration  ;  and 
when  the  work  was  done  the  Czar  had  the  architect's  eyes 
put  out,  so  that  he  could  not  build  another.  Everyone 
who  looks  at  the  structure  to-day  concedes  that  the  punish- 
ment was  just,  for  it  is  a  monster  of  ugliness. 

When  Napoleon  rode  into   the   Kremlin  he  looked  at  St. 
Basil's,  and  turning  to  one  of  his  officers,  said  : 
"  Have  that  monstrosity  destroyed  at  once." 
But  for  some  reason  unknown  his  orders  were  not  obeyed, 
and  the  church  still  stands.     The  Russian  people  believe  that 
St.  Basil  prevented  its  destruction.     St.  Basil  was  an  idiot, 


WITHIN  THE  MIGHTY  KREMLIN. 


303 


The  ancient   Russians,  and   their  descendants  to   a  certain 

^extent,  like  some  tribes  of  savages,  regard  idiots  as  sacred. 

The  hand    of  the  Lord   has   been    placed   upon  them,  and 

although  they  were  and  still  are  allowed  to  roam  at  will,  the 


people  always  give  them  food  and  shelter,  and  protect  them 
from  harm,  believing  that  they  have  the  especial  patronage 
of  St.  Basil,  one  of  the  most  venerated  saints  in  the  Greek 
calendar.  The  church  is  a  series  of  eight  octagons,  each 
connected  with  the  other  by  a  passage,  and  containing  a 


304 


RUSSIA: 


separate  chapel.     There   are  eight  grotesque  domes,  no  two 
of  them  alike,  and  alf  painted  in  different  colors — the   most . 
gorgeous  that  can  be  conceived  of. 

In  front  of  St.  Basil's  is  the  Lobnoe  Miesto,  a  circular  stone 
tribune,  about  thirty  feet  in  diameter,  from  which  the  ancient 
Czars  proclaimed  their  ukases.  It  was  also  the  place  of  exe- 
cution, the  guillotine  of  Russia,  and  from  the  block  in  the 
centre  many  heads  have  rolled. 
There  are  grooves  in  the  stone 
floor  for  the  blood  to  run  down ; 
and  upon  spikes  in  the  wall  of 
the  Kremlin  opposite,  the  heads 
of  the  executed  were  exhibited. 

The  present  gate  was  built  by 
an  Italian  architect  the  same 
year  that  America  was  discov- 
ered, and  over  it  has  hung  ever 
since  the  famous  Icon  of  the 
Redeemer,  which  was  the  pal- 
ladium of  the  Russian  Empire. 
Criminals — who  have  been  exec- 
uted in  Moscow  for  400  years — 
have  always  been  allowed  to 
come  to  the  Gate  of  the  Re- 
deemer and  say  their  prayers 
before  it,  and  it  has  held  a  pro- 
minent place  in  the  history  and 
in  the  veneration  of  the  people 
since  it  was  discovered  at  Smolensk,  nearly  500  years  ago. 

It  is  to  the  intercession  of  this  image  that  the  pious  Rus- 
sians attribute  the  downfall  of  Napoleon,  and  all  his  subse- 
quent misfortunes  are  due  to  his  failure  to  take  off  his  hat 
as  he  passed  through  the  gate.  That  act  of  respect  is  re- 
quired of  every  one.  Even  the  Czar  uncovers  when  he  enters 
the  Kremlin  this  way,  and  woe  be  to  any  man,  citizen  ol 
stranger,  Christian  or  pagan,  who  attempts  to  pass  through 
the  Gate  of  the  Redeemer  with  his  hat  on  his  head,  I 


ONE  OF  THE  KREMLIN" 
GATES. 


WITHIN  THE  MIGHTY  KREMLIN. 


305 


thought  I  would  try  the  experiment,  riding  through  in  a 
drosky  one  day.  The  driver  pulled  up  his  horse  suddenly 
and  cried,  "  Schlapa !  schlapa !  Batushka ;  schlapa ! 
schlapa  !  "  ("  Your  hat !  your  hat !  little  Father;  your  hat ! 
your  hat!  ")  while  an  excited  crowd  of  citizens  ran  toward 
me  from  all  directions.  I  made  signs  to  show  that  I  did  not 
understand,  at  which  the  driver  backed  his  horse  from 
under  the  gate,  and  taking  off  his  own  hat  again,  made  ges- 
tures to  show  that  I  was  to  do  the  same  with  mine.  I  still 
refused  to  understand,  when  an  excited  bystander  grabbed 

my  hat  from  my  head, 
threw  it  into  the  bottom 
of  the  drosky,  and  ex- 
claimed, uGo  on,  you 
fool !  " 

The  Tartar  Moham- 
medans attempted  to 
take  down  the  picture, 
but  tradition  says  that 
every  ladder  they  could 
bring,  broke  as  the  Icon- 
oclasts climbed  it ;  and 
when  the  French  brought 
a  cannon  to  shoot  it 
down,  an  angel  wet  their  powder.  Then,,  when,  driven  to 
desperation,  they  placed  a  coal  of  fire  upon  the  fuse,  the 
gun  exploded  and  killed  them. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  Crescent  as  well  as  the  Cross 
appears  upon  most  of  the  church  towers  in  Moscow,  and  it 
is  explained  in  this  way.  When  the  Mohammedan  Tartars 
captured  the  city,  and  reigned  there  for  200  years,  they 
removed  the  crosses  from  all  the  churches,  an<j  put  up  cres- 
cents instead.  When  the  Tartars  were  driven  out,  the  Rus- 
sians left  the  crescents  where  they  were,  and  placed  the  cross 
upon  them  as  a  sign  of  triumph.  The  Russian  Cross,  as  all 
know  has  even  arms,  and  this  is  explained  by  a  peculiar 
belief  the  people  have  that  the  Saviour  was  deformed,  that 


RECEPTION  HALL  IN  THE  KREMLIN. 


306 


£  US SI  A  : 


his  legs  were  shorter  than  his  body.     I  tried  to  discover  the 
origin  of  this  theory,  but  was  unable  to  do  so. 

The  first  objects  to  be  seen  upon  entering  the  Kremlin 
are  the  great  tower  of  Ivan  and  the  great  bell  of  Moscow, 
both  of  which  are  pictured  in  all  the  geographies,  and  in 
such  an  exaggerated  manner  as  to  cause  much  disappoint- 
ment when  one  beholds  them  for  the  first  time.  I  thought 
the  tower  was  almost  as  high  as  the  Washington  Monument, 
and  it  is  325  feet ;  but 
the  colors  in  which  it 
is  painted  destroy  the 
effect.  The  base  of 
the  structure  is  oc- 
cupied by  a  chapel 
dedicated  to  St.  Nich- 
olas, the  patron  of  all 
maidens  about  to 
marry,  and  one  meets 
many  of  them  there, 
particularly  on  Satur- 
day, for  Sunday  is  the 
popular  day  for  wed- 
dings, when  they  go 
to  say  their  prayers 
before  the  ceremony. 

Within  the  tower, 
above  the  chapel  is 
the  famous  chime  of 
bells,  thirty-four  in  number,  the  smaller  ones  being  cast 
of  solid  silver.  The  largest  weighs  sixty-four  tons,  and  the 
smallest  only  a  few  hundred  pounds.  They  are  without 
doubt  the  finest  set  of  bells  in  the  world,  but  are  seldom 
rung  except  upon  Easter  morning  and  when  the  Czar  is  in 
town.  A  considerable  volume  has  been  written  about  the 
bells  of  Moscow,  for  they  are  numerous  and  fine  in  all  the 
churches. 

The  Czar  Kolokol,  as  the  great  bell  of  Moscow  is  called 


THE  TOWER  OF  IVAN. 


WITHIN  THE  MIGHTY  KREMLIN.  307 

at  home,  stands  at  the  foot  of  the  tower,  upon  a  granite 
pedestal.  It  was  cast  in  the  fourteenth  century  by  the  Czar 
Boris  Gudenoff,  as  a  measure  of  atonement  for  the  innocent 
blood  through  which  he  waded  to  the  throne.  The  tower 

o 

of  Ivan  was  originally  built  to  shelter  this  king  of  bells,  but 
no  architect  has  ever  been  found  with  courage  enough  to 
hang  it.  Boris  erected  a  scaffolding  to  support  it,  and  it  is 
said  to  have  been  rung  during  his  time,  but  the  hangings  gave 
way  in  1684,  and  the  bell  was  smashed.  The  Empress  Anne 
had  it  recast,  in  even  a  larger  size.  A  great  piece  is  broken 
out  of  the  side,  which  tradition  says  is  due  to  an  imperfec- 
tion caused  by  the  ladies  who  threw  their  jewels  into  the 
molten  metal  when  the  bell  was  recast.  But  the  truth  of 
history  compels  me  to  state  this  was  not  so.  During  a  fire 
in  the  Kremlin  -in  1737,  the  bell  was  in  the  midst  of  the 
flames,  and  was  so  heated  that  when  streams  of  water  were 
thrown  upon  it  a  great  crack  opened.  Under  the  Czar 
Nicholas  it  was  removed  to  its  present  position  and  elevated 
to  the  pedestal  upon  which  it  now  stands.  During  the  re- 
moval the  cracked  piece  fell  out  and  has  never  been  restored. 
The  great  bell  weighs  444,000  pounds,  is  two  feet  thick,  and 
fifty-four  feet  in  circumference.  The  weight  of  the  broken 
piece  is  eleven  tons.  The  interior  is  fitted  up  as  a  chapel, 
and  mass  is  said  there  sometimes. 

Near  by  is  the  great  palace  whose  splendors  have  been 
the  theme  of  much  writing.  It  is  the  legal  residence  of  the 
Czars,  the  official  home  of  the  Autocracy.  The  older  part, 
which  has  been  the  residence  of  the  Czars  for  five  centuries, 
was  probabjy  built  by  an  Italian  architect,  although  it  is  full 
of  Moorish  effects,  like  Venice,  and  closely  resembles  the 
architecture  of  the  Alhambra  and  the  Venetian  Palaces. 
Frequent  fires  have  marred  and  destroyed  portions  of  it, 
which  have  from  time  to  time  been  restored  as  nearly  like 
the  original  as  possible,  so  that  it  is  difficult  to  tell  which 
part  is  old  and  which  is  new.  The  exterior  is  ugly,  like  all 
Russian  palaces,  but  is  atoned  for  by  the  beauty  and  splen- 
dor of  the  apartments  within.  It  is  without  doubt  the  finest 


3o8  RUSSIA: 

royal  residence  in  the  world;  not  so  immense  as  the  Winter 
Palace,  nor  so  incongruous,  but  richer  and  nobler  in  every 
way.  Toward  the  cathedral  is  the  historical  Red  Staircase, 
upon  which  so  many  tragic  scenes  in  the  history  of  Russia 
have  been  enacted.  It  was  here  that  the  Czars  in  olden 
times  used  to  sit  in  judgment,  hearing  the  complaints  of  the 
people  and  announcing  the  penalty  to  be  suffered  by  the 
accused.  Once  a  week  the  Czar  would  sit  as  a  judge,  with- 
out laws  or  lawyers,  and  remedy  all  cases  of  injustice,  gener- 
ally by  chopping  off  somebody's  head. 

The  present  entrance  is  through  a  grand  vestibule  and  by 
ascending  one  of  the  noblest  flights  of  marble  stairs  that  can 
be  imagined.  They  are  very  long  and  wide,  and  at  the  top, 
hanging  upon  the  wall,  is  a  picture  of  the  scene  in  the  Krem- 
lin at  the  coronation  of  the  present  Czar,  which,  when  looked 
upon  from  the  foot  of  the  stairs,  is  so  lifelike  as  to  cause  a 
startling  surprise.  It  seemed  as  if  we  had  intruded  upon 
the  imperial  family  in  the  midst  of  some  stately  ceremony. 
The  magnificent  hall  of  the  Order  of  St.  George,  perhaps  the 
finest  room  in  the  world,  is  entered  at  once  from  the  top  of 
the  stairs,  and  here  one  sees  inscribed  in  letters  of  gold, 
upon  the  marble  walls,  the  name  of  everyone  who  has  ever 
worn  this  most  precious  of  Russian  decorations — not  every 
one,  however,  to  be  exact,  for  two  or  three  names  have  been 
erased — the  penalty  of  treason.  At  one  end  of  the  room 
hangs  the  painting  of  St.  George  and  the  Dragon  by 
Raphael,  and  under  it  are  two  large  caskets  of  solid  gold, 
containing  the  records  of  the  order.  The  room  is  two  hun- 
dred feet  long  by  sixty-eight  feet  wide  and  fifty-eight  feet 
high.  In  one  corner  is  a  little  balcony,  from  which  the 
Empress  may  witness  the  ceremonies  of  decoration  that 
always  take  place  here,  and  are  very  imposing;  more  so 
than  the  investiture  of  any  other  decoration  in  Europe. 

There  is  a  similar  hall,  not  so  large,  but  quite  as  fine, 
answering  a  similar  purpose  for  the  Order  of  St.  Alexander 
Nevski,  which  is  decorated  with  some  remarkable  paintings 
representing  incidents  in  his  eventful  life,  as  a  soldier  and 


WITHIN  THE  MIGHTY  KREMLIN. 

conqueror  of  the  Tartars  and  Swedes.  The  orders  of  St. 
Andrew  and  St.  Catherine  also  have  fine  halls,  all  of  which 
connect  with  wide  doors,  so  that  they  can  be  thrown  together 
like  a  single  room  on  occasions  of  ceremony ;  but  they  are 
seldom  used  except  when  a  Czar  is  crowned,  for  he  pre- 
fers to  reside  at  St.  Petersburg.  Two  years  must  elapse, 
the  usual  period  of  mourning,  upon  the  accession  of  a  new 
monarch  to  the  throne  before  he  can  be  formally  crowned. 
Then  he  must  come  to  Moscow  and  spend  a  certain  time  in 
religious  consecration  before  the  ceremony  can  take  place. 
After  it  is  over  the  festivities  begin. 

Within  the  palace  are  numerous  apartments,  filled  with 
costly  and  rare  articles,  most  of  them  centuries  old.  The 
finishing  and  the  furnishing  are  of  barbaric  splendor,  much 
solid  gold  and  silver  being  used,  for  nowhere  on  earth  has  so 
much  money  been  uselessly  spent  as  in  the  residences  of  the 
Czars.  The  palaces  of  Petersburg  hold  bewildering  accumu- 
lations of  useless  riches,  but  the  old  imperial  residence  in 
the  Kremlin  surpasses  them  all  for  the  richness,  value, 
antiquity,  and  uniqueness  of  its  treasures.  The  reader  must 
recall  that  the  Russian  empire  is  a  thousand  years  old,  that 
the  mineral  wealth  within  its  boundaries  has  been  and  still 
is  greater  than  that  of  any  known  country,  and  has  all 
belonged  to  the  Czars,  who  used  it  as  they  would,  without 
regard  to  the  wishes  or  the  welfare  of  the  people.  Gold 
was  so  plentiful  that  it  was  spread  over  the  walls  of  the  pal- 
aces ;  jewels  so  numerous  that  they  were  set  in  the  doors, 
the  chandeliers,  and  the  stoves  ;  while  silver  was  fit  to  make 
thrones  of,  or  utensils  of  household  use.  The  throne  of 
Ivan  the  Terrible,  for  example,  was  made  of  solid  silver, 
heavily  embossed  with  gold  and  studded  with  gems.  His 
robes  of  state,  now  on  exhibition,  were  heavy  with  diamonds, 
pearls,  and  other  precious  stones  ;  while  his  crown  was  a 
blazing  mass  of  them. 

A  writer  of  the  fifteenth  century,  describing  a  visit  to  this 
palace,  says  :  "  The  robes  of  the  Czar  were  surpassing  in  their 
brilliancy,  seeming  to  be  one  sheet  of  diamonds,  while  his 


3io 


JtCSSIA: 


neck-collar,  the  bands  of  his  sleeves,  and  the  train  that  he 
drew  behind  him,  were  within  of  sable,  and  without  of  uni- 
form pearls  like  large  drops  of  water,  of  the  purest  white- 
ness, each  one  being  of  the  value  of  a  slave."  This  pearl- 
covered  mantle  is  still  preserved,  and  the  ancient  writer  did 
not  exaggerate. 

But  one  gets  dreadfully  tired  of  all  this  magnificence. 
The  memory  is  bewildered,  the  eyes  are  exhausted,  and  the 
mind  is  in  a  ferment  of  indignation  at  the  vast  amounts  of 
money  that  have  been  and  still  are  wasted  in  this  way,  when 
the  people  are  not  only  schoolless  and  comfortless,  but  in 


HOLY  SYNOD  AND  THE  PALACE. 

many  places  actually  suffering  for  the  necessaries  of  life. 
And  to  maintain  all  this  splendor,  they  are  taxed  to  a  degree 
that  the  people  of  no  other  nation  would  endure,  and  pay 
the  interest  upon  a  public  debt  of  billions  of  dollars,  which 
is  far  below  par  in  the  markets  of  the  world.  There  is,  in 
the  Kremlin  alone,  useless  treasure  enough  to  pay  the  pub- 
lic debt  of  Russia,  if  it  were  sold  ;  and  in  churches  and  pal- 
aces of  the  empire  enough  more  of  gold  and  jewels  to  build 
a  school-house  in  every  village  and  give  an  education  to  every 
child  without  taxation. 

I  have  seen   nearly  all  the   royal  palaces  of  Europe,  but 


WITHIN  THE  MIGHTY  KREMLIN.  3  1 1 

there  is  not  one  in  Great  Britian  or  on  the  continent  which 
will  compare  in  costliness  or  richness  with  several  kept 
empty  for  the  possible  use  of  the  Czar.  The  home  of  the 
Emperor  of  Germany  in  Berlin  is  commonplace  compared 
with  the  palace  of  the  Kremlin,  and  Buckingham  Palace  is 
shabby ;  while  the  White  House  at  Washington  could  be  set 
down  in  the  marble  hall  of  St.  George  and  then  leave  room 
for  a  crowd  to  stand  around  and  look  at  it.  Versailles  is  the 
most  extensive  of  all  the  palaces,  and  at  the  time  of  Louis 
XIV.  may  have  been  splendid  ;  but  it  is  as  empty  and  forlorn 
as  a  garret  now.  When  one  has  seen  the  palaces  at  Peters- 
burg and  Moscow  he  will  not  enjoy  looking  at  others,  and  is 
soon  very  tired  of  them. 

Before  we  reached  Moscow  I  had  seen  most  of  the  twenty- 
one  city  and  country  palaces  of  the  Czar,  all  but  three  of 
them  absolutely  unoccupied  and  kept  only  for  show  ;  and  I 
told  my  courier  that  I  did  not  want  to  see  any  more — that 
if  he  had  anything  besides  palaces  to  look  at  I  would  go  with 
him,  but  otherwise  I  preferred  to  stay  in  my  room  and  write. 
He  protested  most  earnestly,  conscientious  man  as  he  was, 
against  any  stranger  coming  to  Moscow  without  visiting  the 
finest  palace  in  the  world. 

"  But  I  have  seen  the  Winter  Palace/'  I  replied,  "  and  you 
told  me  that  was  the  finest." 

"  I  said  it  was  the  largest  and  the  most  costly,"  he 
answered,  "  but  the  palace  of  the  Kremlin,  as  you  must 
know  from  your  reading,  sir,  is  unsurpassed  for  its  splendor, 
and  its  vessels  of  gold  and  silver,  and  the  costliness  of  its  dec- 
orations. It  is  very  old  and  barbaric,  but  there  is  nothing 
like  it.  Please  do  come." 

"  If  you  will  take  me  to  a  school-house  afterwards,  I'll 
go." 

And  I  went ;  but  he  could  not  show  me  the  school-house ; 
he  said  he  did  not  know  where  to  find  one.  He  showed  me 
a  noble  university  opposite  the  Kremlin,  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Volga,  where  there  is  a  faculty  of  seventy  professors  and 


312 


RUSSIA: 


over  4000  students  ;  but  there  wasn't  such  a  thing  as  a  free 
primary  school  to  be  seen. 

Adjoining  the  imperial  palace  is  the  house  of  the  Holy 
Synod,  the  residence  of  the  Metropolitan  or  Patriarch  of 
Moscow,  and  the  receptacle  .for  the  sacred  treasures  of  the 
Church.  Here  we  found  something  interesting  in  the  ancient 
robes  of  the  patriarchs  and  the  mitres  they  wore  on  occasions 
of  ceremony,  adorned  with  the  rarest  and  most  valuable  of 
jewels,  one  diamond  in  the  mitre  of  a  metropolitan  of  cent- 
uries ago  being  worth  $250,000, 
and  a  sapphire  worth  $100,000, 
probably  the  finest  example  of  the 
latter  class  of  jewel  in  the  world. 
The  diamonds,  rubies,  emeralds, 
pearls,  and  other  precious  stones 
with  which  the  pontifical  robes 
were  covered  are  very  ancient, 
some  of  them  dating  back  to  the 
tenth  and  eleventh  centuries ;  and 
the  other  ornaments  were  of  cor- 
responding value  and  interest. 

I  asked  the  priest  in  charge  the  , 
value  of  the  entire  collection,  and 
he  told  me  it  was  simply  incalcul- 
able, for  he  did  not  believe  that 
there  was  money  enough  in  all  the 
world  to  replace  the  stones  spread  out  before  our  eyes ; 
that  they  could  not  be  obtained  if  there  was  money  to 
purchase  them  ;  that  this  collection  was  the  work  of  cent- 
uries, eight  centuries  at  least,  and  had  been  contributed  to 
by  the  Czars  and  patriarchs  of  the  Greek  Church  since  the 
time  of  Christ.  Here  was  a  ring,  showing  a  cameo  head 
of  the  Prophet  Daniel,  that  he  claimed  was  once  worn  by 
the  King  of  Babylon  before  the  destruction  of  that  city,  and 
other  jewels  that  were  old  in  the  days  of  Moses. 

It  has  been   the    custom   of   the  Czars,    particularly  the 
wicked   ones,  and  none  have  been   of   saintly  character,  to 


THE  TOMB 
OF  KOZMA  MININ. 


WITHIN  THE  MIGHTY  KREMLIN.  3  T  3 

atone  for  their  sins  and  excesses  by  presenting  jewels  and 
other  articles  of  value  to  the  Church.  Ivan  the  Terrible, 
after  he  beat  his  son  to  death,  presented  the  Metropolitan 
with  a  robe  that  carries  fifty-four  pounds  of  precious  stones. 
Other  Czars  have  done  likewise  ;  and  when  they  have  heard 
of  costly  jewels  or  ornaments  of  great  antiquity,  have  sent 
embassies  with  caravans  of  gold  to  purchase  them.  From 
Ninevah,  from  Jerusalem,  from  China,  from  Babylon,  from 
Egypt,  from  Constantinople  these  ancient  gems  have  come ; 
and  here  they  are  gathered,  idle,  useless  fetiches,  to  be  gazed 
at. 

In  one  of  the  rooms  of  the  palace  of  the  Holy  Synod  is  an 
alabaster  vase,  itself  as  old  as  the  Christian  religion,  which 
is  said  to  contain  a  portion  of  the  ointment  with  which  Mary 
bathed  the  feet  of  the  Saviour.  This  is  the  chrism  sent 
from  Constantinople  when  the  Greek  Church  was  intro- 
duced into  Russia  ;  and  from  this  alabaster  vase  is  taken  the 
oil  with  which  the  Czars  and  the  Metropolitans  are  anointed. 
One  drop  is  taken — no  more,  and  a  single  drop  of  some 
other  oil  is  poured  in  to  replace  it,  so  that  the  quantity  in  the 
vessel  is  always  the  same,  and  the  precious  ointment  never 
grows  less. 

Across  a  limited  court  from  the  Holy  Synod,  and  adjoining 
the  palace,  is  the  famous  treasury  of  the  Kremlin ;  not  the 
bank  of  the  empire,  as  its  name  would  indicate,  nor  a  place 
to  keep  money ;  but  the  museum,  the  depository,  of  the  treas- 
ures of  the  civil  and  military  history  of  Russia,  as  the  holy 
place  we  have  just  left  is  of  its  religious  relics.  In  this  vast- 
building  is  a  collection  of  even  greater  historical  and  mone- 
tary value — the  chronicle  of  the  empire,  from  its  origin, 
written  in  crowns  and  thrones  and  arms. 

Here  are  jewels  and  gold  and  silver-plate  representing  a 
value  of  $600,000,000 — the  accumulation  of  a  thousand 
years  of  barbaric  splendor  and  conquest.  Discarded  crowns, 
studded  with  diamonds,  any  one  of  which  would  be  a  princely 
gift ;  discarded  thrones,  covered  from  crest  to  castors  with 
gold  and  precious  stones  ;  coronation  robes  of  all  the  Czars, 


3*4 


RUSSIA: 


for  each  must  have  new  ones,  as  each  had  a  new  crown,  and 
in  olden  days  a  new  throne,  when  he  took  the  seat  of  power, 
and  all  tried  to  outstrip  the  rest  in  the  splendor  of  his  adorn- 
ment. Here  are  sceptres  wielded  by  a  hundred  kings,  of 
ebony,  ivory,  silver,  and  gold,  ornamented  with  curious  de- 
vices, and  set  with  jewels  rare  and  priceless.  Here  are  the 
crowns  and  thrones  and  sceptres  of  conquered  kings,  brought 
to  Moscow  as  the  spoils  of  war.  The  rooms  are  full  of 


THE  GREAT  BELL. 


booty  captured  from  foreign  nations,  such  a  display  of  loot 
as  never  existed  elsewhere — the  keys  of  fortresses  that  have 
been  overthrown  by  Russian  soldiers  since  the  time  of 
Rurik;  the  wealth,  the  jewels,  the  royal  robes,  the  gold  and 
silver  plate,  and  the  glory  of  a  dozen  despoiled  palaces,  dia- 
monds, pearls,  and  rubies  enough  to  pave  the  streets,  set  in 
all  possible  ornaments  or  implements  of  use.  Stoves  deco- 
rated with  diamonds,  saddles  and  harness  covered  with 
jewels,  swords,  guns,  and  even  cannon  studded  with  pre- 


WITHIN  THE  MIGHTY  KREMLIN.  3 1 5 

cious  stones  as  if  they  were  the  crowns  of  monarchs,  ex- 
hibited to  the  poor  as  the  triumphs  of  Russian  power. 

It  would  fill  the  pages  of  a  newspaper  to  recite  a  list  of 
all  that  is  to  be  seen.  The  collection  fills  a  building  nearly 
as  large  as  the  Treasury  at  Washington,  and  it  tires  one  to 
think  of  the  display.  In  the  first  room  is  a  collection  of 
armor  of  the  middle  ages,  not  so  large  as  many  in  Europe, 
but  interesting  for  its  antiquity  and  ornamentation,  as 
many  of  the  helmets  and  breastplates  are  covered  with 
jewels.  Then  comes  an  array  of  thrones,  each  with  its  his- 
tory. The  ancient  throne  of  Polanci,  brought  from  Warsaw 
in  1833,  when  that  kingdom  was  annexed  to  the  Russian 
empire  ;  the  thrones  of  Asiatic  princes  which  the  conquests 
of  Russia  have  made  vassals  of  the  Czars ;  the  throne  of  the 
ancient  Mongols  of  the  Golden  Horde  that  overran  Russia 
in  prehistoric  times ;  an  ivory  throne  of  Palaeologos,  wonder- 
fully carved  ;  a  gorgeous  chair  of  the  Shah  of  Persia,  blazing 
with  diamonds  ;  thrones  that  belonged  to  the  Sultans  of 
Turkey,  captured  in  war ;  and  the  thrones  of  the  Greek  Em- 
perors Basil  and  Constantine,  sacred  relics,  perhaps  the  only 
ones  in  the  collection  that  came  honestly  there. 

In  the  next  room  is  a  "collection  of  coronation  robes,  in- 
cluding one  I  have  referred  to,  and  that  of  Catherine  the 
Great,  which  was  so  heavy  with  jewels,  costly  furs,  gold,  sil- 
ver, and  lace,  that  it  required  twelve  chamberlains  to  carry  the 
train.  Each  Czar  and  Czarina  have  new  robes  made  for 
the  coronation,  and  when  the  ceremonies  are  over  they  are 
placed  in  the  treasury.  Those  of  the  present  Czar  and 
Czarina  are  the  simplest  of  the  lot,  and  were  made  in  1883, 
of  cloth  of  gold  and  silver,  bullion  wire  finely  and  closely 
woven,  in  beautiful  brocaded  designs.  They  are  not  decor- 
ated like  the  old  ones,  but  the  two  outfits  cost  nearly  $100,- 
ooo.  All  the  garments  worn  by  the  Czarina  at  her  corona- 
tion, from  her  stockings  to  her  hair-pins,  are  preserved. 

The  next  room  contains  probably  the  finest  collection  of 
jewels  in  the  world,  even  more  valuable  than  those  of  the 
Holy  Synod,  but  not  so  rare  and  curious.  Here  is  the  as- 


KUSSfA: 


semblage  of  crowns,  most  of  them  coming  from  the  palaces 
where  the  thrones  were  stolen,  and  were  sometime  worn  by 
royal  heads.  The  crowns  of  Poland,  Kazan,  Georgia,  Astra- 
kan,  Persia,  and  others  are  the  most  splendid,  being  covered 
with  some  of  the  largest  and  most  precious  stones  ever 
known,  "  crowns  upon  crowns,  oceans  of  pearls,  rivers  of 
diamonds, "  as  one  writer  has  expressed  it.  Beyond  them 
are  the  ancient  crowns  of  the  Czars,  the  double  one  for  Peter 
the  Great  and  his  half-witted  brother  being  the  most  curious  ; 
it  stands  before  a  double  throne,  with  a  chair  behind  the 


THE  CZAR'S  SLEEPING  CHAMBER  IN  THE  KREMLIN. 

drapery  where  their  sister  Sophia  used  to  sit   and  prompt 
them  what  to  do  and  say  on  occasions  of  ceremony. 

The  costliest  crown  in  the  entire  collection  was  made  by 
the  order  of  Peter  the  Great  for  the  Swedish  peasant  girl 
who  became  his  wife,  the  Empress  Catherine  I.,  the  number 
of  diamonds  in  it  being  2536,  all  of  them  large,  flawless 
stones,  of  the  first  water,  with  one  of  the  largest  and  finest 
rubies  in  the  world  as  a  crest.  The  crown  of  Ivan  the 
Terrible  has  some  of  the  rarest  stones,  very  large  and  perfect 
turquoises,  and  sapphires  of  great  purity  and  value.  In  this 
room  is  a  large  casket  of  solid  gold  which  contains  the  code 
of  the  Czar  Alexis. 


WITHIN  THE  MIGHTY  KREMLIN.  ^ 

The  largest  of  the  upper  rooms  contains  an  immense  col- 
lection of  ancient  gold  and  silver  plate,  the  most  extensive 
and  valuable  in  the  world,  every  piece  of  which,  it  is  said, 
was  made,  not  for  ornament,  but  for  actual  use,  and  some  of 
it  is  still  used  at  banquets  in  the  palace,  when  the  Czar  and 
the  imperial  family  dine  off  gold,  and  their  guests  off  silver. 
Every  domestic  vessel  known  to  Russia  has  an  example  in 
this  collection,  some  of  which  are  from  the  eleventh  and 
twelfth  centuries.  Here  are  cups  set  with  diamonds,  vessels 
for  the  meanest  purposes  decorated  with  enamel  and  studded 
with  gems,  ebony  chests  filled  with  gold  plates  and  other 
dishes,  platters  a  yard  long  of  solid  metal,  so  heavy  that  a 
'  strong  man  can  scarcely  lift  them,  and  one  tray  whose  rim  is 
set  with  2000  diamonds. 

There  are  two  vases  in  the  British  Museum,  copies  of  the 
most  antique  examples  here,  which  cost  50,000  roubles  to 
make  ;  but  here  is  a  perfect  forest  of  them,  more  than  the 
memory  could  retain,  for  we  had  no  chance  to  describe  them 
in  our  note-books.  In  one  large  case  is  a  set  of  silver  plate 
presented  to  Ivan  the  Terrible  by  Elizabeth  of  England  when 
she  sent  commissioners  to  Russia  to  inaugurate  commerce 
between  the  two  countries.  It  is  a  queenly  gift,  being  very 
heavy  and  of  the  most  beautiful  repousse  work.  Ivan  was 
much  pleased  at  this  attention,  and  when  he  had  heard  from 
the  commissioners  of  her  graces  of  body,  and  qualities  of 
mind,  he  concluded  that  Elizabeth  would  make  him  a  good 
helpmeet,  and  handed  her  ambassadors  a  proposal  of  mar- 
riage to  carry  back  with  them. 

Elizabeth's  answer,  written  by  her  own  hand,  in  good  plain 
English,  which  looked  very  welcome  among  the  mystifying 
Russian  letters,  is  spread  out  in  the  case  with  the  presents. 
In  it  she  says  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  her  to  accept 
the  hand  of  so  mighty  and  noble  a  monarch,  as  she  had  made 
a  vow  never  to  wed,  but  that  she  has  in  her  court  a  woman 
of  exceeding  beauty  and  accomplishments,  the  Lady  Mary 
Hastings,  who  would  make  a  better  wife  for  the  Czar  than 
herself,  being  younger,  more  attractive  of  person  and  mind, 


XUSSfA  . 


and  withal  of  a  most  amiable  disposition.  Accepting  this  hint, 
Ivan  sent  an  ambassador  to  seek  the  hand  of  Lady  Mary, 
but  she  in  the  meantime  had  learned  what  a  dreadful  old 
reprobate  he  was,  and  that,  like  Bluebeard,  he  had  several 
wives,  who  were  supposed  to  have  been  murdered  by  him,  so 
she  declined  the  proffered  crown  of  Russia. 

There  is  also  a  collection  of  Sevres  china  which  was  pre- 
sented to  Alexander  I.  by  the  great  Napoleon  as  a  peace- 
offering  early  in  this  cent- 
ury, when  an  alliance  be- 
tween France  and  Russia 
was  sought.  There  are 
many  relics  of  Napoleon's 
invasion  of  the  empire,  his 
camp  equipage,  the  bed 
in  which  he  slept,  and 
various  other  articles  of 
interest.  I  did  not  see 
half  the  curiosities  in  the 
treasury,  and  I  cannot  re- 
member a  tenth  part  of 
what  I  saw.  The  collec- 
tion is  a  mass  of  riches, 


unsurpassed. 

We  were  followed  every-  MONUMENT  TO  PRINCE  POJARSKY. 
where  by  a  guard,  who  was  always  at  our  elbow,  lest  we 
should  drop  a  dynamite  bomb  or  steal  a  bauble ;  and  when, 
being  weary  of  gazing  at  crowns  and  gold  plates,  we  sat  down 
to  rest  awhile  on  the  sill  of  one  of  the  windows,  for  there 
were  no  benches  or  chairs,  a  gendarme,  with  his  gun 
in  his  hand,  hustled  us  rudely  and  by  motions  directed 
us,  like  Poor  Joe,  to  move  on.  No  one  is  permitted  to  make 
memoranda,  as  the  police  always  suspect  that  it  is  for  the 
purpose  of  conspiracy,  to  locate  the  place  where  valuable 
diamonds  are  deposited,  so  that  they  may  be  stolen  the  more 
easily,  or  for  drawing  a  plan  of  the  building  so  as  to  destroy 
it.  Everybody  is  regarded  with  suspicion  ;  only  a  certain 


WITHIN  THE  MIGHTY  KREMLIN. 


319 


number  of  people  are  admitted  at  a  time,  and  with  each 
visitor  there  is  always  a  guard  from  the  time  he  enters  till  he 
leaves  the  place. 

I  could  not  resist  the  thought  that  the  day  would  certainly 
come  when  this  treasury  and  the  palace  of  the  Kremlin 
would  be  stripped  of  their  riches  by  a  remorseless  mob,  as 
the  Tuilleries  were  in  Paris,  and  wish  that  I  might  be  pres- 
ent to  see  it  done.  The  people  of  Russia  are  the  most 
submissive  in  the  world,  and  have  suffered  more  than  any 
nation.  How  long  they  will  continue  to  suffer  and  submit 
depends  upon  the  power  of  the  army.  When  the  force  that 
oppresses  them  is  withdrawn,  they  will  rise,  and  the  result 
will  be  general  destruction,  and  the  distribution  of  these 
treasures. 

The  late  Dean  Stanley  of  Westminster  Abbey  has  written 
a  very  charming  book  upon  the  churches  of  the  Kremlin, 
which  are  three  in  number  and  very  old.  The  Cathedral  of 
the  Assumption,  in  which  the  Czars  are  always  crowned,  and 
which  is  in  reality  the  centre  of  the  Russian  Church,  blazes 
with  gold  and  jewels,  and  is  filled  with  monuments  of  great 
historic  interest.  Here  for  centuries  have  the  mysterious 
Byzantine  rites  been  celebrated  with  great  splendor,  and 
the  most  precious  relics  of  the  Church  preserved. 

Here  is  the  tomb  of  St.  Peter,  the  first  Metropolitan,  and 
no  end  of  other  saints,  who  laid  their  bones  down  elsewhere 
from  the  time  of  Christ  till  the  fourteenth  century,  and  were 
gathered  in  the  Kremlin  as  the  most  hallowed  place  in 
which  they  might  be  honored  and  preserved.  The  priests 
show  you  a  portrait  of  the  Holy  Virgin  that  was  painted  by 
St.  Luke,  a  garment  that  was  Worn  by  the  Saviour,  a  piece 
of  the  table-cloth  used  at  the  Last  Supper,  several  nails 
from  the  true  cross,  the  hand  of  St.  Andrew  the  Apostle,  the 
head  of  St.  Gregory,  a  portion  of  the  crown  of  thorns,  a 
golden  cross  that  was  worn  by  Constantine,  that  contains  a 
portion  of  the  true  cross,  and  many  other  relics  of  equal  in- 
terest. Behind  the  altar  is  a  model  of  Mount  Sinai  made  of 
nineteen  pounds  of  pure  gold,  and  under  it  are  kept  some 


320 


RUSSIA : 


of  the  most  precious  historical  papers  of  Russian  history,  the 
will  of  Peter  the  Great  among  others. 

The  Cathedral  of  Michael  the  Archangel  is  near  by,  which 
was  built  in  1333,  to  commemorate  the  deliverance  of  Russia 


o 
u 

(/) 

o 


fid 
u 


O 

u 


from  a  dreadful  famine.  Until  the  time  of  Peter  the  Great 
this  was  the  mausoleum  of  the  Czars,  and  the  vaults  below 
contain  the  bones  of  forty-five  of  them.  Historically  the 
most  interesting  of  the  tombs  is  that  of  Ivan  the  Terrible, 
who  was  so  wicked  that  he  was  actually  excommunicated 


WITHIN  THE  MIGHTY  KREMLIN. 


321 


from  the  Church  of  which  he  was  the  nominal  head.  The 
Metropolitan  would  not  allow  him  to  enter  the  sanctuary, 
so  he  built  a  sort  of  bay-window,  which  is  still  standing, 
where  his  unholy  person  was  sheltered  while  mass  was  sung. 
He  might  see  all  that  was  going  on,  through  a  lattice-work 
of  iron,  and  derive  whatever  spiritual  benefit  he  could  from 
the  service  ;  but  he  could  not  enter  the  door,  and  was  a  Czar 
at  that.  Finally  he  built  the  church  of  St.  Basil,  and  pre- 
sented the  Metropolitan  with  a  million  dollars'  worth  of 
jewels,  to  atone  for  his  sins,  and  was  restored  to  communion, 
dying  a  monk.  Within  the  altar  is  the  casket  of  silver  con- 
taining the  body  of  Demetrius,  the  son  of  Ivan  the  Terrible, 
whom  the  latter  beat  to  death  with  a  club.  He  was  after- 
wards canonized  by  the  Church,  and  is  greatly  venerated  by 
the  people,  who  come  to  kiss  his  forehead,  which  is  exposed 
through  an  aperture  in  the  golden  screen  that  covers  his 
bones. 

While  the  Czars  have  always  been  crowned  in  the  Cathe- 
dral of  the  Assumption,  and  buried  in  the  church  of  Michael, 
they  have  been  baptized  and  married  in  the  church  of  the 
Annunciation,  also  within  the  Kremlin  walls.  This  church 
dates  back  to  the  thirteenth  century,  but  was  restored  about 
twenty  years  ago,  before  the  marriage  of  the  present  Czar. 
It  contains  many  relics  of  interest. 

The  Convent  of  the  Ascension,  which  stands  near  by,  is 
famous  as  the  place  where  Peter  the  Great  shut  up  his  law- 
ful wife  in  order  that  he  might  have  greater  freedom  with 
the  Swedish  peasant  Catherine.  The  convent  contains  the 
graves  of  many  of  the  wives  of  the  Czars.  Beyond  is  a  large 
monastery,  also  dating  back  four  or  five  hundred  years,  and 
the  barracks  and  arsenal.  At  the  entrance  to  the  latter 
building  stands  the  great  cannon  called  the  Tzar-Pushka,  on 
account  of  its  extraordinary  size.  It  was  cast  in  1586,  and 
weighs  forty  tons. 

Without  the  walls  of  the  Kremlin  are  many  places  to  visit, 
including  a  large  and  well  filled-gallery  of  fine  arts,  a 
national  museum  of  antiquities,  and  various  buildings  belong- 


322 


RUSSIA : 


ing  to  the  government,  which  would  be  conspicuous  but  for 
the  greater  historical  interest  and  attractions  of  the  Kremlin. 
Within  a  very  few  years  Russia  will  be  a  favorite  resort  for 
tourists  who  are  weary  of  the  rest  of  Europe  and  seek 
something  new.  .They  will  find  in  Moscow,  as  well  as 
Petersburg,  much  that  will  richly  repay  a  visit,  more  interest- 
ing objects  than  any  other  city  except  London  can  show. 
But  our  ignorance  of  the  Russian  language  and  history,  and 
the  lack  of  books  in  English  descriptive  of  the  country  and 
its  attractions,  make  it  almost  a  terra  incognito. 

The  journey  from  Moscow  to  Vienna  occupies   fifty-two 
hours,  and  until  recently  it  has  been  a  hard  trip,  as  the  cars 
run   slowly,  and  there   have  been  no   sleepers,  nor   regular 
meals.      But   I    under- 
stand that  since  I  came 
that  way  in  August  last, 
sleeping-cars  have  been 
placed  upon  one  of  the 
trains,  and  a  faster  rate 

,  PETER  THE  GREAT  PALACE 

of       speed       adopted.  NEAR  MOscow. 

This     will     make    the 

journey  more  comfortable.  The  line  crosses  the  great  wheat 
region  of  Russia,  and  we  passed  through  miles  and  miles  of 
grain,  which  was  being  harvested  by  women  and  girls  with 
old  fashioned  sickles,  for  most  of  the  men  are  in  the  army. 
The  journey  may  be  broken  at  Warsaw,  the  capital  of 
Poland,  or  at  some  of  the  cities  within  the  Russian  bound- 
aries proper.  Warsaw  contains  little  of  interest  except  his- 
torical associations  and  Jews,  who  are  persecuted  in  Russia, 
but  are  allowed  to  live  in  Poland  by  wearing  a  dress  pre- 
scribed by  law.  This  is  a  long  surtout  of  black,  like  an  ulster, 
of  alapaca  in  summer,  and  of  heavy  cloth  in  winter.  We 
have  specimens  of  the  Polish  Jew  in  this  country,  but  do 
not  see  them  as  they  are  there,  where  they  constitute  the  most 
active  portion  of  the  commercial  population,  and  are  con- 
spicuous both  from  their  facial  peculiarities,  and  their 
dress. 


WITHIN  THE  MIGHTY  KREMLIN. 


323 


The  traveller  knows  when  he  crosses  the  Austrian  bound- 
ary, not  only  because  he  has  to  submit  to  an  examina- 
tion at  the  Custom-House  upon  the  border,  but  on  account 
of  the  sudden  and  radical  change  in  the  appearance  of  the 
people  and  their  homes.  As  along  the  German  boundary 
on  the  north  the  contrast  is  most  striking.  On  the  one  side 
is  distress  and  degradation  ;  on  the  other,  prosperity  and 
contentment.  Newspapers  and  books  are  sold  on  the  trains 
as  soon  as  the  border  is  passed,  something  never  permitted 
in  Russia.  There  is  also  a  change  in  the  moral  and  mental 
atmosphere.  The  people  at  the  stations  and  upon  the  cars 
discuss  politics  with  animation,  laugh  and  talk  loudly,  and 
seem  to  be  happy  and  interested  in  each  others'  affairs,  while 
the  condition  in  Russia  is  that  of  oppression,  solemnity,  and 
distrust. 


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ence."— Brooklyn  Eagle. 

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44  It  is  fanciful  and  fresh,  and  written  out  delightfully."— Phil- 
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The  Truth  about  Tristrem  Varick, 

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on  divorce  and  marriage  of  New  York  state  is  in  the  com- 
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ure desires.  The  same  state  of  things  also  applies  to 
women.  It  is  indeed  strong  meat,  dished  up  in  a  fearless 
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WORKS  OF  ADVENTURE. 

Adventures  Among  The  Indians .     By  W.  H.  Kingston. 
Beauchampe.     By  W.  Gilmore  Simms. 
Border  Beagles.     By  W.  Gilmore  Simms. 
Cast  Up  By  The  Sea.     By  Sir  Samuel  Baker. 
Charlemont .     By  W .  Gilmore  Simms . 
Confession.     By  W.  Gilmore  Simms. 
Deep  Down.     By  R.  M.  Ballantyne. 
Deerslayer  (The)    By  Fenimore  Cooper. 
Don  Quixote.    By  Miguel  Cervantes . 
Erling,  The  Bold .     By  R .  M .  Ballantyne . 
Eutaw.     By  W.  Gilmore  Simms. 
Fire  Brigade,  The.     By  R.  M.  Ballantyne. 
Forayers  (The) .     By  W .  Gilmore  Simms . 
Giant  Raft  (The) .     By  Jules  Verne . 
Guy  Rivers.     By  W.  Gilmore  Simms. 
Hunting  In  The  Great  West.     By  G.  O.  Shields. 
Katharine  Walton.     By  W.  Gilmore  Simms.  ^ 

Last  of  The  Mohicans  (The).     By  Fenimore  Cooper. 
Mellichampe.     By  W.  Gilmore  Simms. 
Mysterious  Island ,  (The . )    By  Jules  Verne . 
Partisan  (The).     By  W.  Gilmore  Simms. 
Pathfinder  (The . )    By  Fenimore  Cooper . 

Perilous  Adventures,  By  Land  and  Sea.     By  John  Frost,  LL.D 
Rifle  and  Hound  In  Ceylon.    By  Sir  Samuel  Baker. 
Richard  Hurdis.     By  W.  Gilmore  Simms. 
Robinson  Crusoe.     By  Daniel  Defoe. 
Scout  (The).     By  W.  Gilmore  Simms. 
Secret  Dispatch  (The).     By  James  Grant. 
Southward  Ho!    By  W.  Gilmore  Simms. 
Spy  (The).     By  Fenimore  Cooper. 
Swiss  Family  Robinson.     By  Wyss  &  Montolieu. 
Thrilling  Scenes  Among  The  Indians .     By  T .  M .  Newson . 
Tour  of  The  World  In  Eighty  Days.     By  Jules  Verne. 
Twenty  Thousand  Leagues  Under  The  Sea.     By  Jules  Verne. 
Vasconselos.     By  W.  Gilmore  Simrns. 
Woodcraft.     By  W.  Gilmore  Simms. 
Wigwam  and  Cabin  (The).    By  W.  Gilmore  Simms. 
Young  Foresters  (The).     By  W.  H.  Kingston. 
Yemassee.    By  W.  Gilmore  Simms. 

11 


DETECTIVE  STORIES. 

File  113.     By  Emile  Gaboriau. 
Gilded  Clique  (The).    By  Emile  Gaboriau. 
In  Peril  Of  His  Life.    By  Emile  Gaboriau . 
Lerouge  Case  (The) .     By  Emile  Gaboriau. 
Monsier  Lecoq .     By  Emile  Gaboriau . 
Mystery  of  Orcival .     By  Emile  Gaboriau . 
Other  People's  Money.    By  Emile  Gaboriau. 

ESSAYS  AXD  BELLES  LETTRES. 

Alhainbra.    By  Washington  Irving. 

Astoria.    By  Washington  Irving. 

Crown  of  Wild  Olive  and  Queen  of  The  Air.     By  John  Ruskin. 

Ethics  of  The  Dust  and  A  Joy  Forever.     By  John  Ruskin . 

Heroes  and  Hero  Worship.     By  Thomas  Carlyle . 

Sartor  Resartus.    By  Thomas  Carlyle . 

Sesame  and  Lilies  and  Unto  This  Last.     By  John  Ruskin . 

Sketch  Book .    By  Washington  Irving . 

ETIQUETTE.  ETC. 

Complete  Letter  Writer.    By  Thomas  W.  Handford. 
Ladies'  Etiquette. 

Ladies'  Family  Physician.    By  Pye  Henry  Chavasse. 
Needles  and  Brushes,  Embroidery  and  Fancy  Work. 
Stoddard's  Readings  and  Recitations.     ByR.  H.  and  Elizabeth 
Stoddard. 

FABLES  AND  FAIRY  TALES 

^Esop's  Fables,  100  Illustratir 

Andersen's  Fairy  Tales.    By  Hans  Christian  Andersen . 
Arabian  Nights  (The) 

Grimm's  Popular  Tales.     By  The  Brothers  Grimm . 
Gulliver's  Travels  and  Baron  Munchausen.  By  Dean  Swift  and 
R.  E.  Raspe. 

EICTION. 

Adam  Bede.    By  Geo.  Eliot. 

Admiral's  Ward.     By  Mrs.  Alexander. 

Airy  Fairy  Lilian .     By  '  *  The  Duchess . " 

All  In  A  Garden  Fair.     By  Re-ant  £  Rice. 

Arundel  Motto  (The).     By'  Mary  Cecil  Hay. 

Beauty's  Daughters .    By  '  *  The  D  uche ss . 

Belinda .     By  Rhoda  Brought  on . 

Beyond  Pardon.    By  Bertha  M.  C 

Broken  Wedding  Ring  (A).     BvB.  lay. 

Called  Back  and  Dark  Days .     By  Hugh  Con  way . 

Cardinal  Sin  (A) .    By  Hugh  Conway . 

Children  of  The  Abbey.     By  Maria  Roche. 

Daughter  of  Heth  (A).     By  Wm.  Black. 

Doris.     By  "  The  Duchess." 

Dora  Thorne.     By  Bertha  M.  Clay. 

Dick's  Sweetheart*.     By  "The  Duchess." 

Dunallan.     By  Grace  'Kennedy. 

Earl's  Atonement  (The).     By  Bertha  M.  Clay. 


East  Lynne .     By  Mrs .  Henry  Wood . 

Eugene  Aram .     By  Bulwer  Lytton . 

Endymion .     By  Benjamin  Disraeli . 

Faith  and  Unf  aith .     By  ' '  The  Duchess . " 

Felix  Holt .     By  Geo .  Eliot . 

For  Lilias .     By  Rosa  N .  Carey . 

Green  Pastures  and  Picadilly.     By  Win.  Black. 

Great  Expectations.     By  Chas.  Dickens. 

Heart  and  Science.     By  Wilkie  Collins. 

Henry  Esmond .     By  Wm .  M.  Thackeray . 

Her  Desperate  Victory.     By  Mrs.  M.  L.  Rayne. 

Her  Mother's  Sin .     By  Bertha  M.  Clay . 

lone  Stewart .     By  Miss  E .  Linn  Linton . 

Ishmaelite  (An).     By  Miss  M.  E.  Braddon. 

Jane  Eyre.     By  Charlotte  Bronte. 

John  Halifax,  Gentleman.     By  Miss  Mulock . 

Kenelm  Chillingly .     By  Bulwer  Lytton. 

King  Arthur.     By  Miss  Mulock. 

King  Solomon's  Mines .     By  H .  Rider  Haggard . 

Ladies  Lindores.     By  Mrs.  Oliphant. 

Lady  Audley's  Secret.     By  Miss  M.  E.  Braddon* 

Lady  Branksmere .     By  ' '  The  Duchess . " 

Love  Works  Wonders.     By  Bertha  M.  Clay. 

Macleod  of  Dare .     By  Win .  Black . 

Madcap  Violet .     By  AVm .  Black . 

Maid  of  Athens.     By  Justin  McCarthy. 

Margaret  and  Her  Bridesmaids.     By  Julia  Stretton. 

Mental  Struggle,  (A) .     By  "  The  Duchess . " 

Mill  On  The  Floss .     By  Geo .  Eliot . 

Molly  Bawn .     By  ' '  The  Duchess . " 

Mrs .  Geoffrey .     By  '  *  The  Duchess . " 

New  Magdalen  (The).    By  Wilkie  Collins . 

Old  Myddelton's  Money .     By  Mary  Cecil  Hay . 

Oliver  Twist .     By  Charles  Dickens . 

Our  Mutual  Friend .     By  Charles  Dickens . 

Parisians  (The).     By  Bulwer  Lytton. 

Paul  and  Virginia,  tiasselas  and  Vicar  of  Wakefiekl.     By  St 

Pierre,  Johnson  &  Goldsmith. 
Phantom  Fortune.    By  Miss  M .  E .  Braddon . 
Phyllis.     By  "The  Duchess/' 

Portia ;  or,  By  Passions  Rocked .     By  * '  The  Duchess . '" 
Princess  of  Thule  (A).     By  AVm.  Black. 
Repented  at  Leisure.     By  Bertha  M.  Clay. 
Romola.     By  Geo.  Eliot. 
Rossmoyne .     By  ' '.  The  Duchess . " 
Shandon  Bells .     By  Wm .  Black . 
She .     By  H :  Rider  Haggard . 
Strange  Story  (A) .     By  Bulwer  Lyttou . 
Strange  Adventures  of  a  Phaeton .     By  AVm .  Black . 
Sunrise.     By  Wm.  Black. 
Sunshine  and  Roses.     By  Bertha  11.  Clay. 
Tale  of  Two  Cities  (A).     By  Charles  Dickens. 
That  Beautiful  Wretch .     By  Wm.  Black . 
Three  Feathers .     By  Wm .  Black . 
To  The  Bitter  End .     By  Miss  M .  E .  Braddon . 
Tom  Brown's  School  Days.     By  Thomas  Hughes. 
Tom  Brown  At  Oxford .     By  Thomas  Hughes . 

13 


Two  On  A  Tower.    By  Thos.  Hardy. 

Under  Two  Flags.     By  Ouida. 

Vanity  Fair.     By  Wm.  Thackeray. 

Wanda.     By  Ouida. 

Wilfred  Cumbermcde.     By  Geo.  Macdonald. 

Woman's  Temptation  (A).     By  Bertha  M.  Clay. 

Wooing  O't.     By  Mrs.  Alexander. 

Yolande.     By  Wm.  Black. 

Zanoni.     By  BulwerLytton. 

HISTORICAL  ROMANCES. 

Bride  of  Lammermoor.     By  Sir  Walter  Scott. 
Guy  Mannering.     By  Sir  Walter  Scott. 
Heart  of  Midlothian .     By  Sir  Walter  Scott. 
Ivanhoe .     By  Sir  Walter  Scott . 
Kenil worth.     By  Sir  Walter  Scott. 
Last  Days  of  Pompeii.     By  Bulwer  Lytton. 
Redgauntlet.     By  Sir  Walter  Scott. 
Rienzi .     By  Bulwer  Lytton . 
Rob  Roy .     By  Sir  Walter  Scott . 
Scottish  Chiefs.     By  Jane  Porter. 
Thaddeus  of  Warsaw.    By  Jane  Porter. 
Waverley.     By  Sir  Walter  Scott. 
Willy  Reilly .    By  Wm .  Carleton. 

HISTORY  AND  BIOGRAPHY. 

Dickens' Child's  History  of  England. 

Washington  and  Marion  (Life  of) . 

Webster  (Life  of).     By  Samuel  Smucker,  LL.D. 

HUMOROUS  FICTION, 

Charles  O'Malley .     By  Charles  Lever . 
Handy  Andy      By  Samuel  Lover. 
Harry  Lorrequer.     By  Charles  Lever. 
Rory  O'More.     Samuel  Lover. 

RELIGIOUS  AND  DEVOTIONAL. 

From  Year  to  Year.     By  Alice  Carey. 
Imitation  of  Christ.     By  Thos.  a  Kempis. 
Is  Life  Worth  Living.     By  W.  H.  Mallock. 
Pilgrim's  Progress  (The).     By  John  Bunyan. 

SEA  TALES. 

Cruise  of  The  Black  Prince  (The).     By  Commander  Cameron. 
Five  Years  Before  The  Mast.     By  W.  B.  Hazen. 
Jack  In  The  Forecastle.     By  Hawser  Martingale. 
Mark  Seaworth.    By  W.  H.  Kingston. 
Midshipman  (The).     By  W.  H.  Kingston. 
Peter  The  Whaler .     By  Sir  Samuel  Baker , 
Pilot  (The).     By  Fenimore  Cooper. 
Pirate  (The).     By  Sir  Walter  Scott. 
Red  Eric  (The) .     By  R .  M .  Ballantyne . 
Round  The  World.     By  W .  H .  Kingston . 
Salt  Water.     By  Sir  Samuel  Baker. 

14 


Sea  Queen  (A).  By  W.  Clark  Russell. 
Tom  Cringle's  Log.  By  Michael  Scott. 
Two  Years  Before  The  Mast.  By  R.  H.  Dana,  Jr. 

SHORT  STORIES. 

Dickens'  Christmas  Stories. 

Dickens'  Shorter  Stories. 

Dickens'  Story  Teller. 

Ethan  Brand.    By  Nathaniel  Hawthorne  and  others. 

Fern  Leaves.     By  Fanny  Fern. 

Half  Hours  With  Great  Authors. 

Half  Hours  With  Great  Humorists. 

Half  Hours  With  Great  Novelists. 

Half  Hours  With  Great  Story  Tellers. 

Poe's  Tales .     By  Edgar  Allan  Poe . 

Shadows  and  Sunbeams.     By  Fanny  Fern, 

True  Stories  From  History.     By  Hugh  DeNormand. 

TRAVEL. 

Eight  Years'  Wanderings  In  Ceylon.     By  Sir  Samuel  Baker. 
Hyperion.     By  H.  W.  Longfellow. 
Outre  Mer.     By  H.  W.  Longfellow. 

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An  extraordinary  study  of  human  nature,  by  Nora  Wardell. 

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His  Way  and  Her  Will. 

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